APPLICATIONS OPEN: WJZ's Black History Oratory Competition 2024
For over 30 Years, WJZ has asked Maryland High School Students to speak up and speak out in WJZ's Black History Oratory Competition.
This year, choose one of these quotes and describe "What It Means to You" in 500 words or less:
"Educate your sons and daughters, send them to school and show that besides the cartridge box, the ballot box, and the jury box, you have also the knowledge box." – Frederick Douglass
"I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism." – Oprah Winfrey
"None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody –a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns – bent down and helped us pick up our boots." – Thurgood Marshall
The students with the highest-scored essays will be invited to perform their speech in front of the judges and an audience of family and friends.
The speeches will be streamed LIVE online, in their entirety, on CBS News Baltimore. Then the winners will be announced on TV during WJZ's Black History Oratory Competition Special!
The top three winners will receive scholarship prize money as detailed below:
From WJZ:
- $1,000 First Place prize
- $500 Second Place prize
- $250 Third Place prize
From Walmart:
- $2,500 First Place prize
- $1,500 Second Place prize
- $1,000 Third Place prize
HOW TO APPLY:
- Read the official rules
- Email typed, double-spaced essay and SIGNED Application Form to Oratory@wjz.com
- Essays are due by 11:59 p.m. on JANUARY 25, 2024
Questions? Email Oratory@wjz.com