Applications open for WJZ's Black History Oratory Competition 2026
WJZ is seeking applicants for the Black History Oratory Competition 2026. High school students in Maryland are invited to apply.
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 quotations and describe "What It Means to You" in 500 words or less:
"In a composite Nation like ours, made up of almost every variety of the human family, there should be, as before the Law, no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no black, no white, but one country, one citizenship, equal rights, and a common destiny for all."
- Frederick Douglass
"I use the law as a tool to crank up this democracy and help to steer it in the direction of implementing its great constitutional freedoms that all men are created equal."
- Juanita Jackson Mitchell
"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."
- Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Format
The students with the highest-scoring essays will be invited to perform their essays in person, in front of judges and an audience of family and friends.
The speeches will be streamed live, in their entirety, on CBS News Baltimore, at WJZ.com.
The winners will be announced for the first time on TV, during WJZ's Black History Oratory Competition Special!
Prizes
The First Place Winner will receive $1,000 from WJZ.
The Second Place Winner will receive $500 from WJZ.
The Third Place Winner will receive $250 from WJZ.
How to Enter
Email your typed, double-spaced essay and signed application form to Oratory@wjz.com by 11:59 p.m. on January 25, 2025, to be considered.
The competition is open to Maryland High School Students in grades 9 to 12.
Students must send a scan or photo of the completed, signed application form to be considered. Students under the age of 18 must have a parent or guardian's signature.
Questions? Email Oratory@wjz.com