2009 Poster Contest
New Jersey students in grades 4 through 6 are invited to participate in our efforts to keep Dr. King’s legacy alive by entering this year’s poster contest. The deadline for submission is Friday, Nov. 7, 2008. Contest winners and their families are encouraged to attend the King Day celebration, where winners will be recognized for their achievements. They are awarded significant prizes, and their work helps contribute greatly to our community’s understanding of Dr. King.
"...in order to answer the question, 'Where do we go from here?' ...we must first honestly recognize where we are now."
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here?, 1967
This year’s contest focuses on the American presidential transition and ask students to consider the question: “If he were alive today, what would Dr. King most want our newly elected president to be concerned about?”
Sample Resources:
- www.thekingcenter.org/
- http://www.stanford.edu/group/King
- www.ontheissues.org
- www.publicagenda.org
- www.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/index.html
- www.lwv.org (and then click on issues at bottom of page)
Contest instructions
Procedures
Contests are only open to New Jersey residents. As always, winning entries will be judged on a variety of factors including message, creativity, originality, accuracy and inclusion of Dr. King and/or the messages for which he stood. Students may not use copyrighted material without proper permission. Submissions may not be returned unless self-addressed envelopes are included with requests for returned materials. Submissions also may be picked up immediately following the MLK Day Celebration on Jan. 19, 2009. Where applicable, entries may be submitted by the deadline to: MLKentry@princeton.edu. However, it is the entrant’s responsibility to ensure that the entry has been received.
Students must attach (staple preferred) the 2009 MLK contest submission form (which may be photocopied or downloaded from www.princeton.edu/mlk/) to each entry and may enter only one contest per individual. The form must be typed or neatly handwritten as illegible forms will result in disqualification. In the poster and essay contests, we expect to award, per grade grouping, one prize of: $100 as first place; $75 as second place; and $50 as third place, as well as honorable mentions. We expect to award only first-place winners in the video category, per grade grouping. Award winners will need to provide their Social Security numbers for prize payment. In keeping with Dr. King’s messages of inclusiveness, social and racial justice and respect for the dignity of others, submissions that include profanity and/or language inconsistent with Dr. King’s philosophy will be disqualified.
Each New Jersey student in grades 4 through 6 may submit one poster, including and between the sizes of 8 1/2 by 11 inches and 18 by 24 inches, using any contained form of artistic expression (such as paint, ink, pencil, yarn, etc., that remains attached to the poster).
Theme
Select a Cabinet role and create a poster that is relevant to your position as head of a department. For example, if you assume the role of Energy Secretary, you might create a poster depicting options for alternative fuels. If you are the Secretary of Education your poster might highlight concerns about funding for public schools or about the high school dropout rate. As the Secretary of Defense your poster might be a graphic timeline of a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq . Posters will be judged upon message as well as artistic ability and originality. The poster may contain words and images. Entries that the judges deem as plagiarizing or otherwise infringing upon copyright protected material will be disqualified.
Deadline
Entries must be delivered to the Office of Human Resources, 1 New South, with entry form, by 4 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2008. For more information or clarification, please call Felicia Edwards, (609) 258-7801 or Zia Bartley, (609) 258-9149. Thank you for your help and for ensuring that guidelines are followed. We look forward to reviewing the submissions.
2008 Poster Contest
The 2008 winners of the essay and video contests were announced in early January, and were honored at the Jan. 19 celebration. A full list of winners is available online.