The Paducah-McCracken County NAACP and Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, LLC, are honored to sponsor the Fredrickia Hargrove Poster and Essay Contest in Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
This annual tradition provides a platform for students and teachers to honor Dr. King’s enduring legacy and to remember Mrs. Fredrickia Hargrove, a beloved educator in the Paducah Independent School System for 27 years and the event’s founder, whose commitment to empowering youth through education and creative expression endures.
2025-26 Theme: “Empowering Our Youth To Be Agents of Change”.
•Division 1: Grades K-3 (Poster)
•Division 2: Grades 4-5 (Opinion Essay)
•Division 3: Grade 6 (Argumentative Essay)
•Division 4: Grade 7 (Argumentative Essay)
•Division 5: Grade 8 (Argumentative Essay)
•Division 6: Grades 9-12 (Argumentative Essay)
The top 3 students in each division will receive a plaque and a cash prize!
WKMS Partnership: First-place essay winners will record their work for broadcast on local radio, while the first-place poster winner’s art will be featured on the WKMS website.
For questions or inquiries, please contact Tournament Coordinator Rodney Holt (rodney.holt@smss.org).
THE 2025-26 WINNERS WILL BE LISTED HERE ON JANUARY 9, 2026
The Awards Ceremony will be held at Lone Oak Middle School on Sunday, January 18, at 2:00 PM.
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.