Enter our Social Media Contest
• Tell the world: Free speech matters!
• Enter our Instagram Photo Contest– Use the hash tag #FreeSpeechMatters
• Best posts could win up to $100 in Amazon gift cards!
• First round of entries accepted Aug 14 – Sep 30 (winners announced Oct 7th)
Speech First’s mission is to protect students’ free speech rights on campus. Throughout American history, disenfranchised groups – from women to African Americans, the LGBT community to religious minorities – have fought to gain equal rights. Often, the views they espoused were unwelcome and often considered “offensive.” Fortunately, First Amendment protections ensured that their viewpoints could be communicated… and in the marketplace of ideas, they were able to triumph. Yet sadly, not all colleges and universities believe in the First Amendment or protecting our Constitution – and arbitrarily decide whose speech should be valued and whose should not.
Help us show that free speech still matters on campus in America. Share your pictures of the best and worst examples of free speech on your campus.
College students can enter our photo contest for a chance to win up to a $100 Amazon gift card. Four times during the school year, a celebrity judge will choose a contest winner – starting on October 7 – and the best images will be featured in our monthly membership newsletter
Here’s how it works:
• TAKE A PICTURE of the best or worst examples of free speech on your campus, e.g. a student protest, a campus poster or your administration limiting free speech.
• POST THE PHOTO on Instagram using the hashtag #FreeSpeechMatters and tag Speech First! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram – and you can direct message us, too!
• You MUST BE A STUDENT currently enrolled in a college or university in an undergraduate or graduate program in order to participate.
• You must USE THE HASHTAG #FreeSpeechMatters and tag @speech_first to be eligible to win! No need to submit the photo anywhere else. All winners will be contacted.
• Not a student? That’s okay. Help us SPREAD THE WORD about the contest and forward to your friends and family who ARE in school.
Negative examples of free speech might include:
• A community bulletin board with ripped or censored flyers on it
• An event being disrupted
• The “speech codes” section of your student handbook
• A display or chalking that’s been destroyed
• The campus free speech zone
• Suggested language/pronoun/Halloween costume guides or signs
Positive examples of free speech could include:
• A crowd shot of a rally or protest with people holding signs
• The recommended reading list/stack of books for incoming freshmen
• A civil debate between opposing viewpoints
• A successful tabling event sharing information
This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram. By entering Speech First’s social media contest using the hashtag #FreeSpeechMatters and tagging @Speech_First, entrants give Speech First permission to use and/or repost their submission photographs in the future with proper attribution.
