The nationwide Selma Speech and Essay Contest award ceremony will be live streamed from Philadelphia and will honor three finalists from all over the country for their ability to "peacefully use the power of their words."

Edan Armas, Evan Lehmann, and Ifeoma White-Thorpe are the three remaining finalists in the contest, down from the original pool of nearly 800 submissions from across the country.

They will be judged by an impressive and well-known judging panel including Common; Dr. Marvin W. Berkowitz; Xavier de Souza Briggs; Van Jones; Shiza Shahid; and Douglas O. Tozour.

Hosted at the National Liberty Museum in Philalphia, the three finalists will find out which one of them is the recipient of the grand prize- $5,000. The following two will receive $2,500 and $1,000, respectively.

The ceremony will also include a speech from former Senator Harris Wofford, an original Selma marcher and special messages from the cast of Selma.

According to the press release, "To enter the contest, students were asked to watch the film SELMA and then submit a 500-700 word speech and video responding to the following prompt: 'The movie SELMA tells the story of how Martin Luther King, Jr. and others peacefully protested to advance voting rights. What do you think needs to be done today to protect individual freedom and self-determination? What are you doing or will do to peacefully advance those rights?'

The ceremony will start at 10:30 a.m. on April 21st, and the live stream can be found here.

To check out the finalists' submissions, click here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

04/20/2015