The VBA’s Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Poster/Essay Contest is now underway. Middle Schoolers statewide are invited to write a short essay (up to 250 words) and illustrate a quotation from Dr. King. This year the quotation comes from his 1964 Nobel Prize acceptance speech: “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.” To see the contest flyer, which includes a link to the rules and entry form, as well as the audio of Dr. King’s speech, click here.
The Contest originated in 2017 when Justice Nancy Waples was head of the Diversity Section and has recurred annually under the sponsorship of the Diversity Section and the Young Lawyers Division. A committee made up of VBA Staff, YLD, and Diversity Section members judges the entries. All identification is removed from the entries prior to review by the judges.
VBA Members are encouraged to let their own local middle schools know about the Contest. The deadline is Dec. 22.
Three winners will be selected. The 1st place winner will receive a plaque and their school will receive a traveling trophy, to be returned the following year for presentation to the winning student’s school that year. The 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive framed certificates. All winners will be invited to a ceremony at the Vermont Statehouse around the time of the Martin Luther King, Jr. 2024 holiday for recognition and the winning posters will be displayed at the Vermont Supreme Court Building, published in the Vermont Bar Journal, and posted on the www.vtbar.org website.