If you watched Fox News at all lately, you undoubtedly had to put up with their relentless advertising of their Patriot Awards. It’s a great awards show, highlighting everyday American patriots – but they don’t even show the award show on their own news network. You would have had to purchase a subscription to their streaming service, Fox Nation, in order to watch the awards show. That didn’t stop them from talking about the awards show for more than a week.
This year’s show, their 5th, was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN on Thursday, November 16th and they chose six honorees [1] to honor at the event:
MOST VALUABLE PATRIOT – TIFFANY JUSTICE & TINA DESCOVICH
These two women are the founders of Moms for Liberty (M4L) and received an award for what Fox News says is their “their dedication to protecting parental rights in America through their work with M4L.” After accepting their award, Justice said, “We are accepting this on behalf of over 130,000 moms and dads across America, and to our moms in just under three years, over 300 chapters, 48 states, we know you are working to unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government. We are joyful warriors. Our children are being taught to hate each other in school. There is no future for America with that type of hate, so we are going to fight like hell with a smile on our faces because our children are watching us, and it is a privilege to fight for this country.”
BACK THE BLUE AWARD – JAMES PATTERSON
Bestselling author James Patterson was awarded the “Back the Blue Award” at the Fox News’ awards show for “his dedication to defending men and women in law enforcement and sharing their stories that otherwise go unheard.” Patterson, who has written about crime and law enforcement for years, has a book called “Walk the Blue Line,” a collection of stories by real police officers. After getting his award, Patterson said, “I’ve been writing about the police for years. From Alex Cross to the nonfiction ‘Walk the Blue Line,’ what I’ve heard from officers over and over is thanks for telling our side of the story. Part of that story is that there’s no such thing as a routine call for help. There are no routine car stops. Every call can be a matter of life and death.”
YOUNG PATRIOT – PRESTON SHARP
At the young age of 12-years-old in 2016, Preston Sharp was shocked when visiting his grandfather’s grave when he saw the lack of flags and flowers at the graves of other veterans. Sharp said at the award show, “(This award) is to bring awareness to our veterans, to remind them that they matter, that we do care, and that they will always be remembered.” He has since started a nonprofit, Veterans Flags and Flowers [2] where his goal for 2024 is to place flags and red carnations at the resting place of American veterans across every state in the country.
FOX WEATHER AWARD FOR COURAGE – TRACY HARDEN
Tracy Harden, a restaurant owner in Mississippi, saved herself and eight others by sheltering in her dairy cooler while bad weather and a tornado raged around them. The building, the site for her restaurant for 16 years along with her husband, was town apart, but lives were saved because of her quick thinking that day. Harden said after receiving the award, “I know that night there was a much higher power holding me steady, allowing me to push through. For that, I’m grateful.” She added, “I want to accept this award in memory of the 14 lives, 14 friends we lost during the tornado.”
T2T STEPHEN SILLER AWARD – NASHVILLE POLICE
Frank Siller, founder of “Tunnel to Towers Foundation” (T2T [3]) a nonprofit organization founded after the death of his brother, firefighter, Stephen on 9/11, joined “Fox & Friends” co-hosts and Stephen’s son to present the first-ever T2T Stephen Swiller award this year and the winning recipient was the Nashville Police Dept. for rushing towards gunshots after an active trans shooter opened fire at the church-run Covenant School school in Nashville, Tennessee in March. The police saved countless lives after rushing into the line of fire.
Det. Sgt. Jeff Mathes accepted the award and said, “On behalf of the Metro Nashville Police Department, there are patriots that I’ll accept this for, but patriots like our friend and detective on our team, Eric Wegner. He ran outside and was the stimulus of getting shot. He got shot at, and that’s what we needed to find what we needed and the work that we needed to do. So being a patriot is going for others, respecting each other, respecting your country and most importantly, putting your God first.”
SALUTE TO SERVICE AWARD – ANDY NEGRA
World War II veteran Andy Negra [4] was honored with the “Salute to Service” Award. Negra was a part of the group that stormed the beaches of Normandy to help ensure Germany’s defeat. When receiving the award, Negra said, “I represent all of the World War II veterans that are still alive, and for the other veterans out of the other wars, let me assure you, I represent you, too. That’s the Iraq and all the rest of them.”
99-year-old Negra gave some meaningful words to live by: “Live the kind of life that I have. I enjoy every minute of the day. My people ask me, what do I contribute to my health? And I’ll tell them all the same thing. God only gave us one day at a time. He did not promise us tomorrow. So make the best of it. Take care of yourself, have a positive attitude, and proceed to enjoy every day that the good Lord gives you.”