The Paducah-McCracken County NAACP is proud to sponsor the 2026 Annual Fredrickia Hargrove-Martin Luther King Essay/Poster Contest! We look forward to this time of each year when students and their teachers can celebrate the life, work, and legacy of Dr. King.
The theme for the 2025-26 Poster and Essay Contest is “Empowering Our Youth To Be Agents of Change”
There are six divisions from which the top 3 winners will be awarded cash prizes.
The first-place winners will have the opportunity to record their essays and have them published on local radio, thanks to our friends at WKMS. The first-place poster winner will have their work displayed on the WKMS website.
Student Resources
All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5TH, 2025.
Entries submitted after the deadline will not be scored.
Winners will be notified no later than FRIDAY, JANUARY 9TH, 2026 through their local schools.
Essay prompts are available at the link below.
Essay submissions must be completed using the template (also available below). Once complete, return to this website to upload your completed essay.
Judges Resources
Scoring documents must be competed using our official Poster Scoring and Essay Scoring Documents. Download the workbooks at the link below (or use the provided documents in the Google Drive link you were provided).
Once complete, return to this page and upload your scoring documents using the form below.