THE 2013 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ESSAY CONTEST


Campus-wide Conversation

Deadline extended to 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, 2013.

The Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest invites all current Case Western Reserve University students, faculty and staff members to reflect on the application of King's values and vision to contemporary social, political and economic issues. Participants should choose any one of the five excerpted speeches by King, reflect on that speech, and write an essay about the relevance of the values articulated in that speech to the national or global discourse.

One faculty, one staff, two graduate/professional and two undergraduate student winners will be recognized during the MLK Convocation on Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 at 12:30 p.m. at the Amasa Stone Chapel.

Essay Instruction Overview

See Essay Prompts and FAQ's:

Choose one of the excerpted speeches from the essay prompts and write an original essay of no more than 750 words on the relevance of the passage to contemporary social, political, and/or economic domestic/ global issue. You may consult external resources while formulating and writing your essay; however, you must attribute prior or unoriginal work and ideas to the correct sources. Please comply with the university's academic integrity standards and policy on plagiarism.

 

Grading Criteria

1. Originality and Creativity - 25%
2. Grammar and Mechanics - 25%
3. Relevance to Prompts - 25%
4. Relevance for Policy Discourse - 25%

Prizes

1. $1,000 Faculty Prize, one winner
2. $1,000 Staff Prize, one winner
3. $500 Graduate/ Professional Student First Place Winner
4. $500 Undergraduate Student First Place Winner
5. $300 Graduate/ Professional Student Runner-up
6. $300 Undergraduate Student Runner-up

Copyright

Participants grant the organizers and sponsors the non-exclusive right to announce or reproduce, at their discretion, any and all submitted essays by any print, electronic, voice or video media of its choosing.

Submit/ Upload Essay

Essays must be no more than 750 words.
To submit an essay, please visit: www.surveymonkey.com/s/cwru-mlk-essay

Due Date

The MLK Essay Contest is open from Dec. 1, 2012 to Jan. 18, 2013.
Deadline extended to 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, 2013.
Entries submitted after the deadline will not be considered for the MLK Essay Contest Prize.

Questions?

Contact: Obie Okuh, MLK Essay Coordinator at oco@case.edu

 

Organizers and Sponsors

 

The 2013 MLK Essay contest is made possible by generous financial and organizational support from:

  • The President's Advisory Council on Minorities (PACM)

  • The Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity

  • Baker Nord Center for Humanities

  • Center for International Affairs

  • Cleveland Hillel Foundation

  • Greek Life Office (Pan-Hellenic Council and Inter-Fraternity Congress)

  • Housing and Residence Life, First Year Experience

  • Kelvin Smith Library

  • Share the Vision, and

  • Undergraduate Student Government