Entries are coming in for the 2026 Phoenix Veterans Day Parade Essay Competition for all high school students.
Honoring Americas Veterans will select one winner from each grade in 9-12 to receive cash prizes, the opportunity to ride in the Phoenix Veterans Day Parade, obtain memorabilia from the event and the teachers of the winning entries will receive $250 to use in their classrooms.
Ashlynn Klomp, the 2025, 12th grade winner from American Leadership Academy in Queen Creek, said she wrote the essay to honor veterans including her father’s 20 years of Air Force service around the world.
“Thousands of service members hire, travel and work with international partners every day. They do bear Americas torch and project her guiding light to every corner of the globe,” she said.
Ashlynn was joined by winners: Annalise Tallman, grade 11, home schooled, Whitney Coombs grade 10, Arizona College Prep and Mariah Barber, grade 9, home schooled.
As the Honoring America’s Veterans, Phoenix Veterans Day Parade celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year, the theme for both the parade and the essay contest is: “250 years of Freedom, 30 Years of Honor” which ties in nicely our 30th anniversary of the parade and the 250th celebration of the founding of America.
This year’s essay competition requirements are:
• Student must be currently attending an Arizona high school in grades 9-12.
• Home schooled students of high school age are also eligible.
• Entries must be 350-400 words long.
• Entries must be submitted online on the Honoring America’s Veterans website.
• Entries must be submitted by September 25.
“The theme was selected as a tribute to the service and sacrifice our nation’s veterans provide us,” said HAV Executive Director Paula Pedene. *We want to hear from our young people today about what the service and the sacrifice of our veterans means to them.”
Entries will be judged on their focus on the theme, creative writing, grammar, originality, and content.
Submit entries online at: https://www.honoringamericasveterans.org/essay-competition/ But please hurry! The deadline is September 25.
Selected winners will receive a cash prize, the opportunity to ride on the Hall of Flame fire truck in the 2026 Phoenix Veterans Day Parade, publication of their essay in the parade program and on the Honoring America’s Veterans website, and Veterans Day commemorative items. Teachers for each of the winners will receive a $250 cash prize for their classroom.
“The veterans’ stories of resilience and redemption remind us of the power of second chances,” said 2025, 10th grade winner Whitney Combs. “We stumble, we struggle but the stories remind us that we can begin again.”
About Honoring America’s Veterans
Since 2011, Honoring America’s Veterans (HAV), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization strives to help Arizona’s veterans heal and reintegrate back to society through honor and recognition events. These events include the Phoenix Veterans Day Parade, the Honoring Our Heroes Veterans Grand Marshals competition, and the Parade’s High School Essay program