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’.

There is a video here

To view it, you must first accept cookies. You can withdraw your consent at any time at the bottom left of our pages.

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

Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute for Lisanne Dijkstra

December 11 2025

Lisanne Dijkstra (30) is awarded the Freedom of Expression Foundation Tribute for having revealed a mayor’s abuse, and for demonstrating great courage of expression in the face of powerful actors and forces in society.
“She reminds us of the importance of such civil courage for us as a society and as individuals”, remarks Bård Vegar Solhjell, chair of the Fritt Ord Foundation Board.

The freelance study is completed in 2025

October 15 2025

The share of freelancers in the media has been increasing for years in many countries, but until recently, there has been little research-based knowledge about the scope of freelance work and the working conditions of journalists, photographers, and critics without permanent employment in the media.

The Genocide in Gaza and Big Tech

October 14 2025

Sunday, 19 October 2025 at 3.30 PM at Cinemateket, Oslo
Fritt Ord, Masahat and Oslo Dokumentarkino invite you to a lecture and conversation with Nadim Nashif about Big Tech’s complisity in the genocide in Gaza.

New Oxford fellow – How Journalists Interview “Monsters and Victims”

October 14 2025

VG journalist Håkon F. Høydal has been awarded Fritt Ord’s journalism fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford in the spring of 2026.
His project explores what journalists can learn from new trauma research when interviewing both “monsters and victims” in crime and abuse cases.