Competition Announcement: Malcolm X Arts & Writing Competition

USA. Illinois. Chicago. Malcolm X during his visit to enterprises owned by Black Muslims. 1962.
© Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos

This spring, Seattle Opera is presenting the West Coast premiere of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. To encourage students to celebrate and engage with this work and Malcolm X’s legacy, we have created this competition for high school juniors and seniors in Washington State. All students, including home-school and charter students, are invited to submit their essays, poems, and visual artwork responding to the following prompt:

What aspect of Malcolm X’s legacy has had the greatest impact on our society today?

The first-place winner in each category will be awarded $500. The first-place winners and first runners up for each category will be invited to present their submissions before one of Seattle Opera’s performances of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at McCaw Hall, and their submissions will be showcased in McCaw Hall during the entire run of the opera, February 24—March 9, 2024.

The submission deadline is January 22, 2024, at 11:59 PM.

Seattle Opera accepts online submissions only. Students may only enter in one category. There is no fee to enter.

Competition Rules

Essay Rules

1. Entries must respond to the prompt.
2. Entries must be written in English.
3. Entries must be typed and submitted as a document or PDF.
4. Only one essay may be submitted per student.
5. Entries must be submitted online by January 22,2024 at 11:59 PM. Hard copy or late submissions will not be accepted.
6. Entries must be at least 300 words and should not exceed 500 words. Word count does not apply to works cited.
7. Citations may follow MLA, APA, or Chicago styles.

Poem Rules

1. Entries must respond to the prompt.
2. Entries must have a title.
3. Entries can be written in any poetic style.
4. Entries must be written in English.
5. Only one poem may be submitted per student.
6. Entries must be at least 3 lines and cannot exceed 50 lines. The poem title does not count as a line.
7. To ensure proper lineation, please use the “Enter” key to start a new line, indicating all intentional line breaks.
8. All entries must be submitted online by January 22, 2024, at 11:59 PM. Hard copy or late submissions will not be accepted.

Visual Art Rules

1. Entries must respond to the prompt.
2. Entries must have a title.
3. Entries may be done in any style or medium within the range of visual arts (painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, drawing, illustration, graphics, digital art, motion design, collage, metal etching or punch work, or fiber work.)
4. Entries must not exceed 24 inches by 30 inches.
5. Entries must be submitted online via pictures or videos of the artwork. Digital artwork must be submitted as either a PNG, JPEG, PDF, or MP4.
6. Entries must be submitted online by January 22, 2024, at 11:59 PM.
7. First place winners and first runner up will be contacted for pick up of the artwork if it is a physical artwork.
   • All 2-D works must be packaged so that the artwork will not be damaged during pick up.
   • All 3D work must be self-supporting or mounted on their own bases.

Grounds for Disqualification

Submissions that:

1. do not comply with the rules listed above,
2. are not the student’s original, authored and/or created work,
3. provide false entry information,
4. plagiarize content, or
5. contain language that is vulgar, offensive, or wholly inappropriate.

All decisions of disqualification will be final.

 

Submit Work

 
X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X runs Febuary 4-March 9, 2024 at McCaw Hall. Tickets and info at seattleopera.org/x.