Each year, a committee comprised of representatives from the VBA staff, the VBA Diversity Section, and the VBA Young Lawyers Division, chooses a quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to inspire Vermont’s middle school students to participate in a Poster-Essay Contest. This year’s quotation was, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” This comes from a speech that Dr. King made at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on Oct. 26, 1967.
Students from around the state are invited to participate. After removing the names and identifying information from the entries, the judges choose a winner, a first runner-up, and a second runner-up. The judges this year were again impressed with the varied and thoughtful responses of the contestants.
In addition to being published on the VBA website and in the Vermont Bar Journal, the winning entries were displayed at the VBA Young Lawyer’s Division Mid-Winter Thaw in Montreal over the 2025 Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. They will also be displayed at the Vermont Supreme Court. In addition, the winners and their families will be invited to an award ceremony in February with Governor Phil Scott to be followed by a meeting with the Vermont Supreme Court justices. All entries outside of the top three were awarded honorable mentions, all of which were well-deserved.
The VBA congratulates the winners and all the participants!
2025 Winners
First Place Winner
First Place: The top prize this year went to the team of Josie Hayes and Sarah Duggan, 5th Graders at Main Street Middle School in Montpelier. The judges were particularly impressed with their essay which demonstrated real insight into the quotation. It also included some research into King’s life, noting he was jailed 25 times but “kept pushing on.” It also notes that the struggle for equality continues using the gender wage gap as an example. The poster features a mountain to represent the barriers still to be overcome. The first-place essay is printed below.
First Runner Up
First Runners-Up: The team of Phoebe Barnard and Elsa Willner, 5th Graders at Main Street Middle School, took the first runners-up prize. Their poster was particularly joyous, showing Martin Luther King, Jr. giving a speech before a diverse and happy crowd. Their essay describes their thought process in using the image to convey MLK’s hopeful message.
Second Runner Up
Second Runners-Up: The team of Ira Kim and Hendrix Burton, also fifth graders at Main Street Middle School in Montpelier, took the second runners-up prize. Their poster depicts a person walking, a hawk flying, a cheetah running, and, subtly, some worms crawling. The hawk carries a banner reading, “if you can’t fly, run.” The Running cheetah has a label, “if you can’t run, walk.” The walking figure carries a sign that says, “If you can’t walk, crawl.” In the foreground, in the underground, the worms spell out, “but whatever you do, keep moving forward.” The judges were impressed by the team’s ingenuity in representing the quotation. Their essay also demonstrated thoughtfulness and insight. They noted that MLK’s statement was more than a metaphor but encourages young people to literally keep pushing toward a better more equal world.
First Place Essay:
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” This quote was given in a speech by Martin Luther King at Barrett Junior High School on October 26, 1967 in Philadelphia.
This Quote doesn’t literally mean to fly, but to keep believing in your goals, and even when things are hard you have to keep moving forward. Our poster reflects on how Martin kept pushing on even though some people didn’t agree with his protests, marches, and speeches about black rights. The people at the bottom of the mountain with negative comments represent some of Martin’s struggles and challenges. The mountain he is walking up is steep and rough just like his life at some points, he was even thrown in jail more than 25 times, but he still kept pushing on.
Even now some people still don’t have equal rights, and not just people of color, for every dollar a man makes a woman makes 82 cents, at the same job, and people who believe in different things can get hurtful comments toward them. This all ties to the quote because it shows us that the world is not perfect yet and we have to keep trying to get it there. But all in all Martin Luther King Jr. was an inspirational man that changed our world for the better.
