“POV – Point of View” invites a new generation to reflect on the historic relationship between Portugal and the United States, with applications open through September 20
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its independence, the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) is inviting young Portuguese-Americans to consider what that history means from their own point of view — and what more than two centuries of Portuguese-American connections might mean for the generations still to come.
The 2026 edition of “POV – Point of View,” launched by FLAD on July 4, is an essay contest for U.S. citizens of Portuguese descent between the ages of 18 and 23. Participants are invited to submit an original essay in English reflecting on the historical, cultural and human relationship between Portugal and the United States, including the significance of America’s 250th anniversary.
The initiative places young Portuguese-Americans at the center of a relationship that extends well beyond diplomacy. Portugal was among the early nations to recognize American independence, and the connections between the two countries have subsequently been strengthened by migration, communities, culture, education, commerce and generations of Portuguese descendants who have made the United States their home while maintaining ties to their ancestral country.
For today’s Portuguese-American generation, however, that relationship is necessarily different from the one experienced by parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. Many young people inherit Portugal not through the experience of emigration but through family stories, language, food, religious and cultural traditions, visits to ancestral villages and islands, and the institutions created by earlier generations throughout Portuguese communities in the United States.
POV gives that generation an opportunity to articulate what the inheritance means in its own language and on its own terms.
Essays must be unpublished, written in English and limited to 3,500 characters, including spaces. That relatively brief format challenges participants to develop a focused and personal argument rather than an extensive historical study.
Three essays will receive awards. The first-prize winner will receive $2,000 and the opportunity to have the article published in a Portuguese-American media outlet. Two runners-up will each receive $1,000.
Applications opened on July 4 and remain open until September 20, 2026. Candidates must submit their essay together with a résumé through FLAD’s online application system.
The contest also carries particular significance at a moment when Portuguese-American identity is undergoing a generational transformation. The history of Portuguese immigration to the United States was shaped by people who crossed the Atlantic and established communities far from their places of birth. Their descendants now face a different question: how does an inherited identity remain meaningful when the experience of immigration itself becomes increasingly distant?
There is no single answer. For some, Portuguese identity remains closely connected to language and regular contact with Portugal. For others, it survives through family memory, festivals, music, food, faith, community organizations or an attachment to the Azores, Madeira or mainland Portugal. Still others are rediscovering an ancestry that previous generations, in their determination to become American, sometimes allowed to recede.
The 250th anniversary of American independence offers an especially appropriate setting for that reflection because Portuguese-American history is also part of the larger American story. Generations of Portuguese immigrants and their descendants have participated in the economic, civic, cultural and democratic life of the United States while simultaneously creating enduring bridges across the Atlantic.
FLAD’s contest asks the newest generation to consider those bridges not simply as monuments to the past, but as possibilities for the future.
Applications for the 2026 POV – Point of View contest remain open through September 20. Eligible applicants must be between 18 and 23 years old, be U.S. citizens and be of Portuguese descent.