Call for applications: Fritt Ord Foundation Competition for upper secondary school 2017

March 1 2017

The Fritt Ord Foundation Competition for upper secondary school is an annual competition that invites pupils to submit entries about freedom of expression and democracy. This year’s topic is ‘enemies of the people’.

Call for applications
Upper secondary school pupils: Welcome to enter the Fritt Ord Foundation competition! Discuss one or more enemies of the people. Write a paper or make a media production, and enter it in the competition. By ‘enemy of the people’, we are referring to someone who stands out from the crowd by promoting freedom of expression, and who is thereby perceived as an enemy by others. Please discuss a person or a specific issue. Take your point of departure in the play ‘An Enemy of the People’ by Henrik Ibsen, if you would like.

Who are enemies of the people today, and which enemies of the people are worth discussing? We want to hear your views!

Application deadline: 1 March 2017. See frittordkonkurransen.no for relevant reading material, suggestions from the jury and earlier winners, and for further information about submitting your entry. Best of luck!

Suggestions from earlier prize-winners
We have interviewed earlier winners of the Fritt Ord Foundation Competition, asking questions such as why they chose to participate. Sara Pernille Jensen was one of the winners of the Fritt Ord Foundation Competition in 2016, when the topic was ‘Censorship’.

About the Competition
The Fritt Ord Foundation Competition for upper secondary school is an annual competition that invites pupils to submit entries related to freedom of expression and democracy. Pupils can participate on their own or as part of classroom activities. They can work individually or in groups, and pupils are invited to submit entries in different genres: Audio, video or online productions, essays or articles. The Fritt Ord Foundation organises seminars for teachers and offers school visits and supervision for participants. Feel free to contact Fritt Ord if you are an upper secondary school teacher and have questions about the competition. All entries are considered by a jury consisting of researchers, teachers and journalists.

First prize is a grant for NOK 20 000, second prize for NOK 15 000 and third prize for NOK 10 000.In addition, the prize-winners will win a study tour to Strasbourg, where they will visit the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the EU Parliament.

Contact
Joakim Lie, project manager for the Fritt Ord Foundation Competition
Email: joakim.lie@frittord.no
Mobile: +47 915 60 770

News

See all

Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2025

March 14 2025

In collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS of Hamburg, the Fritt Ord Foundation has allocated the Free Media Awards annually since 2004 to Eastern European journalists and media that defy every obstacle to tirelessly ensure independent press coverage. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the subsequent wave of disinformation clearly demonstrates the need for independent reporting in the region. Journalist, editorial teams and media companies in and from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary who make a contribution to press freedom through their investigative, independent reporting can be nominated for the Free Media Awards.

Civitates' Tech & Democracy open call

March 6 2025

Civitates – The European Democracy Fund is a pooled philanthropic fund that was set up in 2018 for the sole purpose of addressing democratic decline and closing civic space in Europe. The case for confronting these threats is growing increasingly urgent. Fritt Ord Foundation is one of the initiators and partners of Civitates.

Civitates has launched its Tech and Democracy open call to support organisations working to ensure safer, more inclusive online spaces (social media platforms, search engines etc.) by improving the enforcement of EU tech regulations at the national level.

This open call offers a unique opportunity to strengthen civil society’s role in holding the tech sector accountable, with a focus on key EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act, GDPR, AI Act or the European Media Freedom Act to name a few.

Norwegians increasingly more positive to computer games

March 5 2025

Norwegians are increasingly more positive to accepting computer games as culture

About 17 per cent have developed a more favourable view of computer games over the past year. Six of ten play computer games, and one of three plays computer games weekly. At the same time, computer games are ranked as having lower status than books and music, for example.
“Computer games deserve more attention and discussion”, contends Joakim Lie of Fritt Ord.

– Computer games are also art

March 4 2025

“The problem with far too many media reports about computer games is that they start begin with sentences like: ‘computer games have come a long way since Pac-Man’,” sighs American computer game critic Jacob Geller.

“Let us first simply agree that computer games are indeed an art form and an expression of culture, and then let us examine the works as part of the history of art and culture.