October 1, 2014

Media Contacts:
Mark Miller, Administrator, Office of Public Information, 410-313-2022
C. Vernon Gray, Administrator, Office of Human Rights, 410-313-6430

Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission Invites
Students to Participate in Essay Contest
Nomination Deadline: November 5

ELLICOTT CITY, MD The Howard County Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission
invites Howard County middle and high school students to participate in the Commissions
annual Student Essay Contest. The winners will be recognized at the Commissions 30
th

Annual Celebration on Sunday, January 18, 2015, at Howard Community Colleges 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: students name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, 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. Kings 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. Kings statement, Life's most persistent and
urgent question is What are you doing for others? Based on this statement, students are
asked to consider a time in their life when they aided or helped another person. In their
essay, reference the situation and how it relates to the work of Dr. King.

Complete essay contest rules can be obtained by visiting the Commissions webpage at
www.howardcountymd.gov/mlkholidaycommission.htm or by calling the Office of Human
Rights at 410-313-6430. All completed nomination forms must be postmarked, hand-
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October 1, 2014

Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission Invites
Students to Participate in Essay Contest (continued)
Nomination Deadline: November 5

delivered or e-mailed by 5 p.m., Wednesday, November 5 to: MLK Student Essay
Contest, c/o Howard County Office of Human Rights, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite
239, Columbia, MD 21046, or e-mailed to SubmissionsMLK@howardcountymd.gov.

Essay finalists and their schools will be notified and their names posted on the Commissions
website, www.howardcountymd.gov/mlkholidaycommission.htm, by Friday, December 5.

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 e-mail mtoth@howardcountymd.gov.

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