After a year-long hiatus, the Haddonfield Human Relations Commission is inviting K-12 students to participate in the 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest.
All entrants are asked to reflect on the following quote by King: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.”
K through 5 students can write about a person they know or an experience they’ve had that reflects the quote and the impact it had on them. They can also use art, writing or a poem to describe a person they know and how that individual, experience or event inspires them.
For grades 6 to 12, students should also write an essay about a person or an event that reflects the King quote and has inspired or had an impact on their lives.
“I’m hoping they kind of examine the life of MLK and hoping they do that in school, and if they don’t, maybe this will spur them to do a little research and that it will make some sort of positive impact for them, just to reflect on the crazy times we live in,” said Ellen Stone, co-chair of the commission.
“ …I know in the past, some of the teachers have taken the prompt and used it as an in-class writing assignment to give kids extra credit wherever it may be. All in all, it’s a great thing.”
Contest winners will be presented at the 2023 MLK Community Celebration on Jan. 16 at borough hall, after a peace march and vigil down Kings Highway.
“Around 14 years ago, we were trying to think of something special to do for MLK Day and it kind of popped into my head, wouldn’t it be neat if we simulated a candlelight vigil, a candlelight march?” Stone noted.
The vigil has been held for 14 years, in good weather or bad, with performances by Haddonfield Memorial High School’s coed a cappella group and ChildrenSong of New Jersey performing, followed by the vigil and walk.
But while the vigil has not missed a year, the essay contest was put on hold last year because of COVID restrictions. This year – as in the past – students with the best essays can read their work at the vigil and receive a proclamation from the mayor and borough commissioners.
“There’s been years where there have been so many good ones, upwards of five or six,” Stone recalled. “One year, there were so many good entrants that we decided to have quite a few be read, but not the whole thing, just an excerpt.”
Submissions for the contest are due by midnight on Jan. 8 and should be emailed to [email protected]. The Martin Luther King Day Community Celebration will begin at 7 p.m.
The Haddonfield Human Relations Commission meets monthly on the third Thursday of every month, 7:30 p.m., at borough hall to “promote goodwill, cooperation and equal opportunity in social, employment, recreational and community endeavors and to eliminate bias, intolerance, indifference and discrimination in Haddonfield.”
The commission in years past has helped with neighborhood mediation and held community conversations in addition to the MLK Day celebrations. To learn more, visit https://haddonfieldnj.org/boards_and_committees/human_relations/index.php.
