Contest Rules:

1. Contest is open to 7th- 12th graders.  Poems must be based and address the theme   

 Theme: Give Us the Ballot: My Civil Right -Voting

Last year, Martin Luther King III and family called into action ‘there should be no MLK Jr. Day celebrations without meaningful voting rights legislation.” Arndrea Waters King said, “Voting is an essential part of our democracy’s infrastructure, and we cannot afford for it to crumble any further.”  This year’s poetry entries will have a focus on, ‘the importance of our communities civil rights to voting.’

As we continue to embody the MLK Jr.’s courage and message to call our democracy into providing access to voting as an essential part of our civil rights, share with us what the above theme means to you through poetic expression.

2. Poems must not exceed 200 words.

3. Entries will be judged by the MLK Jr. Poetry Committee- a panel of educators, university students and community members- for creativity, originality, and style.

4. Winners will be notified via mail/email. Winners must attend the celebration in order to be recognized, and to receive their prize. The celebration will take place,

Date- Saturday January 14th 2023         Time- 9:00 a.m.             Where: May Street Auditorium

5. All entries must be submitted to MLK Jr.  Youth Breakfast Poetry Contest

via this form or via email at: dhargrove072@gmail.com and tnguyen89@worcester.edu

 Please submit no later than 11:59p.m. Friday December 9, 2022