The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Writing Awards
These awards are open to all high school and college students in the Pittsburgh area and any remote CMU locations. We seek personal narratives dealing with individual experience of racial or cultural difference or personal reflections on Dr. King’s legacy that rely on concrete detail. The top three winners receive cash prizes.
Jim Daniels, Thomas Stockham Baker University Professor of English, established the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Writing Awards in 1999. The program builds on Daniels’ commitment to writing about race. He edited “Letters to America: Contemporary American Poetry on Race.” In 2001, the event expanded to include a separate category for Carnegie Mellon students, working on the premise that the voices of college students, and their varying experiences, could and should interact with the young voices from the Pittsburgh community.
Help us continue to have these important conversations on racial and cultural differences. Please consider donating to the Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Awards. Your donation will go a long way in helping us continue to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy. Make a gift today.