Posted on 10/29/2025 8:05:40 AM PDT by DFG
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced that the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative (FCDI) will rename its statewide championship scholarship the Charlie Kirk prize in honor of the late Turning Point USA founder’s “zealous advocacy for civic dialogue and freedom of speech,” with Florida recognized as “#1 for high school civics and debate.”
"Today, we announced that April’s debate competition winner of the Charlie Kirk prize will receive a $50k scholarship, with runner-up ($25k), semi-finalists ($15k) and quarterfinalists ($10k). We expect more than 600 students in the competition and look forward to awarding the newly-named Kirk prize to the winner,” DeSantis posted on X.
DeSantis emphasized the connection between the initiative and civic responsibility. “Free speech and civil discourse are essential to the survival of a democratic republic,” he wrote. “Today, those ideals are under threat: One-third of college students believe violence is acceptable to silence speech they find objectionable. Nothing illustrates this threat more clearly than the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who was killed on a college campus while trying to have a conversation with the other side.”
He continued, “In Florida, we’re working to turn the tide by instilling the importance of the American civic tradition in the next generation. Six years ago, we launched the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative (FCDI) to create opportunities for all students to become responsible, well-informed citizens who will preserve our constitutional republic.”
The Florida Civics and Debate Initiative, launched in partnership with the Marcus Foundation in 2019, has grown from 59 teams in 11 districts to more than 330 teams across all 67 counties, with over 4,200 students participating.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Prediction: it will eventually be either (a) done away with, or (b) turned into an award for promoting the pro-woke-agenda. That will happen when the next Democrat takes over the governor’s seat in FLA.
Great
No scholarship. Just give them the money.
Every republican club in every town should sponsor one of these no matter how blue the town is. There are enough republicans everywhere that can chip in $10-$20 for the winners. High schools are the perfect venues.
GREAT MOVE
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