To earn the Price of Freedom Award, participating youth are asked to fulfill a series of requirements to help learn about:
- The history of WWI and WWII in Belgium
- The servicemen who died in Belgium during those wars
- What life was like in wartime and how the wars touched their families
- Why allies are so important
- Why the post-WWII reconciliation with former enemies is so important
- Why people volunteer to defend our freedom today
- Why and how we should remember those who died
Who can earn the Price of Freedom Award?
- Any young person aged 11 to 18. For geographical reasons, the requirements for earning the award are different for youth living in or near Belgium and those living in America. See below.
- The award can be earned by youth of any nationality. Since its introduction, thousands of young people in Belgium and the United States have earned the award.
- The award can be earned either individually or as a group. In Belgium, many teachers have worked the requirements of the Price of Freedom Award into their course curricula as a way to motivate research and introspection. Youth organizations, such as scout troops, can work on it together as a special project, particularly in the month leading up to Memorial Day. Parents can use the Price of Freedom Award to teach their children at home. And any individual young person can choose to earn the Award on their own.
How To Earn the Price of Freedom Award?
Before beginning the Price of Freedom Award, please contact us and explain if you wish to work on this award as a group or as an individual. We will then send you a more detailed set of instructions, based upon how you are intending to earn the award. Please note that we cannot recognize your achievement of this award unless you have received instructions from us before you, your class, or your youth group begin working on it.
For a sneak preview of what the requirements involve, here they are:
Here are some resources that will help you meet these requirements:
- Museums and Monuments in Belgium
- Research Resources
- For youths living in Belgium, tips for meeting the mandatory requirements
- Allied and German military cemeteries in Belgium
- Hiking and Biking Routes in Belgium
