The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration Committee is accepting entries for its annual contests and awards. The committee is led by Aiken Technical College (ATC) and the University of South Carolina Aiken (UofSC Aiken), the presenters of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration held annually in January.

Nominations for the 2022 Human & Civil Rights Champion Awards are being accepted through November 12. The awards recognize a community member and students from ATC and UofSC Aiken who have demonstrated advocacy and support for diversity, equity, inclusion, and human rights.

Below are links to the nomination forms and criteria:

• Nominate an ATC student: https://bit.ly/3BVoalZ

• Nominate an UofSC Aiken student: https://bit.ly/3k63u0N

• Nominate a community member: https://bit.ly/38fdTVR

The committee is also accepting entries for its annual contest for Aiken County public, private, and homeschool students in kindergarten through 12^th grade. Contest entries are also due by November 12.

There are three available categories: creative visual poster, essay, and multimedia. Full details for each category are available in the attached contest guideline document.

The creative visual poster category is open to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Participants should create artwork related to the question “What does the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day mean to you?”

The essay category is open to middle and high school students and asks students to answer the question, “What did Dr. King mean by the quote ‘whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly?’”

Essays for middle school students may be up to 1,000 words in length and up to 1,500 words in length for high school students.

This year, the committee added a new multimedia category open to students in kindergarten through 12^thgrade. Participants are asked to answer the question, “What is the legacy of Dr. King?” in a video up to three minutes in length.

Save the Date: The 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Celebration will be held Sunday, January 23. The Human & Civil Rights Champion Award recipients and winners of the essay and creative visual arts poster contest will be recognized during the event. More details to be announced.