About the Award

Tufts' annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration is meant to offer the Tufts community a time to participate in the ongoing university commitment to racial justice by honoring what we learn from the past, listening deeply to current voices of change, imagining together for Tufts, and celebrating a future of Beloved Community. Each year, we invite student voices - through essays, poems, spoken word, songs, art, or performances - to be a part of our community celebration.

Interested undergraduates and graduate students are invited to submit creative responses for this year's Student Voices Award as part of the annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration coordinated by the Africana Center, Tisch College of Civic Life, and the University Chaplaincy. For the 2025 Celebration, we ask submitters to connect to the "Where Do We Go From Here" speech given by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967, and celebrate where the ethos expressed in his words is alive on our Tufts campuses today for them. Submissions should focus on this specific quote:

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here (1967)

For the 2025 Award, submissions should respond to one or more of these questions:

• How does this quotation still apply or resonate with you today? What new interpretations would you make today?
• What does it mean to you in this time of your life? Where does it show up for you at Tufts?
• What is the relationship between power, love, and justice to you?
• How does your medium represent the lack of love, power and justice in the context of the quote?

Submission details are below:

• Individual and group submissions are welcome
• Submissions must be original work, but can have been created for another class, activity, or contest
• Submissions can be essays, poems, songs, art, and performances; we will accept content in pdf, MP4, MOV, jpeg, and png
• Please see relevant deadlines below

A small committee will choose up to three winners based on organization, clarity, creativity, originality, and relationship to the 2025 guiding text. Winners will receive a cash prize and be invited to present at the Celebration on Thursday, January 30, 2025. Winning submissions will also be published on the Africana Center and the University Chaplaincy websites.

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