This year’s theme is “50 Years of Integration: Did Brown v. Board of Education Work?”
Students in all grades who attend public, private or home schools are encouraged to enter the contest. Students’ essays should be: • handwritten, typed or computer generated in black ink on white paper, double-spaced, one-sided only; and • no more than 500 words.
Essays cannot include photographs, images illustrations, etc. and cannot be sent in binders, portfolios or report covers. An official entry form must be attached to each original, unpublished essay.
First, second and third place winners will be selected in three categories: grades one through five, grades six through eight and grades nine through 12. Winning essays will be judged on originality, grammar, relevancy to the theme and effective expression. The deadline for essays is November 24, 2004. Click here to download an official entry form. http://wvde.state.wv.us/tt/2004/brown-entry.doc
All winners will receive a U.S. Savings Bond and will be given the opportunity to read their essay at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Luncheon in January 2005.
The annual essay contest was instituted in 1993 in an effort to bring into view the memory and teachings of Dr. King’s dream. More than 1,400 powerful and moving essays written by students from around the West Virginia were received last year.