The 2020 MKL Essay Contest is now closed! Thank you for all who submitted entries. See 2020 Essay contest winners here.

The 2020 MLK ESSAY CONTEST is open to high school seniors attending Arlington schools or residing within Arlington city limits.

Scholarships to help defray the cost of college tuition and books will be awarded to winning essay writers.

First Place — $1,000 Scholarship
Second Place — $750 Scholarship
Third Place — $500 Scholarship

Essay Contest Rules:

  1. Submission deadline: 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
  2. Theme: Advancing the Dream: Diversity in Action
  3. One essay submission per student. Essays must be original, type and double-spaced and must not exceed 1,500 words.
  4. ALL essay submissions "must" include a cover sheet. The cover sheet should contain the student's name, school, phone number, mailing address and e-mail address. None of this information should be included in the body of the essay.
  5. Contest submission should be sent electronically in Adobe Portable Document (.pdf) format to: [email protected]
  6. Essays will be judged on the basis of organization, content, voice, creativity and grammatical structure.
  7. For questions/more information, please contact Lisa Fields, Chairperson - MLK Essay Contest at 817-239-5682

Winners will be notified in December and formally recognized at the MLK Advancing The Dream Awards Banquet on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020.

Please download, complete and firmly affix the entry form on the back of the entry.