Local students are encouraged to enter the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. essay and poster contests as part of Effingham County’s annual observance honoring the slain civil rights leader.
Students in grades 1-5 are eligible to participate in the poster contest, and the essay contest is open to grades 6-12.
The deadline to enter the MLK poster and essay contests is Dec. 13. Students may submit their entries at their school or to Sandra Nethels at the school system central office in Springfield, or mail them to P.O. Box 222, Guyton, GA 31312.
The poster/essay contest entry form is available online. Visit www.effinghamschools.com and click “Martin Luther King Jr. Poster & Essay Contest” on the front page.
According to the MLK Observance Day Committee, poster and essay entries should illustrate how Martin Luther King Jr. became an influential civil rights leader, working with all races to identify discrimination, eliminate segregation and promote equality.
The essays should be persuasive, “convincing the reader why Dr. King was an influential leader and why he should be voted as one of the top 50 influential people in American history.” Three specific reasons should be given, with supporting details, evidence, facts or stories, while relating those points to King’s ideals and philosophies.
The winners of both contests will be announced on Dec. 18. They will be recognized at the MLK youth program at the Effingham County Recreation Department gymnasium on Highway 119 on Jan. 20, starting at noon.
For more information, call Lon Harden at (912) 772-3505 or Rosetta Gordon at (912) 772-3061, or go to www.effinghamschools.com.
The theme for this year’s Effingham County MLK observance is "Hope for Change, Dream for Justice, Live for Equality." The winning theme was submitted by Aaliyasha White, a seventh-grader at Effingham County Middle School.
The second-place submission, “Changing the Future of Many, by the Dream of One,” was by Effingham County High sophomore Alexander Williams III. Third place went to Guyton Elementary fifth-grader Anthony Patterson for “Keeping Dr. King’s Dream Focused on Breaking the Chains of Injustice.”
