HHOMA honors student winners of Project on Racism Contest and 37th Annual Poster Competition Jan. 16 & 18

Watch virtual ceremony Jan. 16 at 5 p.m. on HHOMA Facebook page or Jan. 18 at 9:30 p.m. from WVPB, the West Virginia Channel

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs (HHOMA) will host a virtual award ceremony to celebrate the student winners of the Project on Racism Contest and 37th Annual Poster Competition. The ceremony can be viewed Saturday, Jan. 16 at 5 p.m. on HHOMA’s Facebook page or on Monday, Jan. 18 at 9:30 p.m. from WV Public Broadcasting, the West Virginia Channel, directly following the broadcast of the annual Ecumenical Service.

A program of the virtual ceremony can be accessed here.

“The young people in our state have creativity and passion,” said HHOMA Executive Director and Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission Chair Jill Upson. “We are honored to take part in recognizing them, what they have to say and what they have achieved.”

Essays | Music | Film

The Project on Racism Contest was presented by the Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission and the YWCA Wheeling. Entries were accepted for essays, music, and five-minute films and was open to any student from grades 1-12 attending public, private, parochial, or home school in West Virginia.
All entries must have focused on the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
Award recipients for each category are listed below.
Essay Award Recipients

Grade K-5
1st Place
Helen Miller
Ansted Elementary School, 5th Grade

2nd Place
Reid Boswell
Spring Mills Primary School, 2nd Grade

3rd Place
Paxton Matthews
Bethlehem Elementary School, 3rd Grade

Grade 6-8
1st Place
Audrey Ferguson
Warwood Middle School, 8th Grade

2nd Place
Nicholas Lilly
Shady Spring Middle School, 8th Grade

3rd Place
Julia Dunaway
Tridelphia Middle School, 7th Grade

Grade 9-12
1st Place
Devan Boyles
Parkersburg High School, 12th Grade

2nd Place
Alaina Fry
Hedgesville High School, 10th Grade

3rd Place
Jonathan Nguyen
Greenbrier East High School, 10th Grade

Film Award Recipients

1st Place (Group Entry)
Hunter Kelley, Everett Poole, Xander Plute, Nico Hoellwarth, Almira Ramazanova, Abolaji Oke, Nick Earls, Cole Grimm & Sam Gorence
Linsly School, 11th & 12th Grades

2nd Place
Kate Blackwood
Bridgeport Middle School, 7th Grade

3rd Place
Kinsley Edgmon
West Liberty Elementary School, 5th Grade

Song Award Recipients

1st Place
Juanita Garcia
Linsly School, 11th Grade

2nd Place
Julian Skasik
Bridgeport High School, 11th Grade

Poster Artwork

The Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission and the Beta Beta Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, presented the 37th annual Poster Competition.

West Virginia students from grades K-12 could enter the poster competition. The art must have focused on the following quote from Martin Luther King Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Poster award recipients are listed below.
Grade 9-12
1st Place
Zoey Davidson
Lincoln County High School, 9th Grade

2nd Place
Dannah Pauley
Lincoln County High School, 9th Grade

3rd Place
Rian Hoalcraft
Robert C. Byrd High School, 9th Grade

Grade 6-8
1st Place (Group Entry)
Kinleigh Bell & Dakota Adkins
Hamlin PK-8 School, 6th Grade

2nd Place (Group Entry)
Aivah Spence & Laney Nelson
Hamlin PK-8 School, 6th Grade

3rd Place (Tie)
Landon Gillespie
Hamlin PK-8 School, 7th Grade

Fallon Parker
Hamlin PK-8 School, 7th Grade