Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission invites students to participate in essay contest

October 28th, 2015

The Howard County Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission invites Howard County middle and high school students to participate in the Commission’s annual Student Essay Contest. The winners will be recognized at the Commission’s 31st Annual Celebration on Sunday, January 17, 2016 at Howard Community College’s Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center, Smith Theatre in Columbia.

To be eligible for the contest, students must be a Howard County resident and in either middle or high school. Essays must be typed and double-spaced and include the following information: student’s name, address, telephone number, email address, name of school and grade. Middle school student essays are to be between 500 to 750 words in length, while high school student essays must be between 750 to 1,000 words. Essays will be judged on content, connection to Dr. King’s work, spelling, grammar and sentence structure.

Students with disabilities may submit entries that address the essay question through use of other media (posters, pictures, etc.). All submitted essays and entries become the property of the Commission.

For their entry, students are to reflect upon Dr. King’s statement, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moment of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Based on this statement, students are asked to recall a time in their life when Dr. King inspired them to conquer their fear and keep moving forward.

View the complete participation rules or call the Office of Human Rights at 410-313-6430. All completed nomination forms must be postmarked, hand-delivered or emailed by 5:00 p.m., Friday, November 13 to: MLK Student Essay Contest, c/o Howard County Office of Human Rights, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 239, Columbia, MD 21046, or emailed to SubmissionsMLK@howardcountymd.gov.

Essay finalists and their schools will be notified and their names posted on the Commission’s website, www.howardcountymd.gov/mlkholidaycommission.htm, by Monday, December 14.

First, second and third place high school student winners will be awarded $300, $250 and $200, respectively. First, second and third place middle school student winners will be awarded $250, $200 and $150, respectively.

For more information or questions, contact Mary Toth in the Office of Human Rights at 410-313-6467 or email mtoth@howardcountymd.gov.