Each year, a committee comprised of representatives from the VBA staff, the VBA Diversity Section, and the VBA Young Lawyers Division, chooses a quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to inspire Vermont’s middle school students to participate in a Poster-Essay Contest. This year’s quotation was, “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles.”
Students from around the state are invited to participate. After removing the names and identifying information from the entries, the judges choose a winner, a first runner-up, and a second runner-up. The judges this year were again impressed with the varied and thoughtful responses of all the contestants.
In addition to being published here on the VBA website and in the upcoming spring issue of the Vermont Bar Journal, the winning entries were displayed at the VBA Young Lawyer’s Division Mid-Winter Thaw in Montreal over the 2026 Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. In addition, pending a scheduling agreement with the Governor’s office, the winners and their families will be invited to an award ceremony with Gov. Phil Scott to be followed by a meeting with the Vermont Supreme Court justices. The winning entries will then be displayed in the lobby of the Supreme Court. All entries outside of the top three will be awarded honorable mentions, all of which were well-deserved.
2026 Winners
First Place Winner
The top prize this year went to Isabel Bridgeman of Main Street Middle School (5th Grade). Her colorful poster features MLK leading a small group of protesters. The judges were impressed by the verve of her poster and the touching sentiment of her essay. Her effort to research and share details of MLK’s life and activism was also impressive.
Isabel’s first-place essay is printed below.
First Runner Up
First Runner-Up went to Dorothy C. Webb of Main Street Middle School (5th Grade). Her poster had great charm, depicting a stylized African American child reaching for the stars, bruised, but undaunted. Her essay describes her thought process in using the image to convey MLK’s message of hope through resilience.
Second Runners Up
Second Runners-Up were the team of, Zoe Bromley & Ada McCulligan, also of Main Street Middle School (5th Grade). Their poster depicts various symbols of peace and of obstacles. They detail the meaning of the symbols in their essay and relate them to MLK’s life.
First Place Essay:
“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles” – Martin Luther King Jr.
In my poster Martin is leading a protest, but there are only four people there. This never really happened to him but his life had many obstacles. For instance, once someone bombed his and his brother’s houses. But that never stopped him. He showed people love even when people tried to kill him. He kept protesting his whole life. Actually Martin died protesting. He was helping garbage workers on strike in Tennessee in 1968 when he was shot. Martin had so much courage. He was always cautious about being assassinated; he once said “Surely I don’t want to die but if anyone has to die, let it be me.” As to show he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt but himself if that was the case. He was a very important person in history. He changed lives and influenced lots of people, for example my school has a space for Black Indigenous People Of Color, or BIPOC for short. It’s a room where black and/or hispanics, like myself and other people like that can be themselves freely and not be scared to. In conclusion Martin Luther King was one of the most important activists and left a mark even when he died, and more and more people are learning about him every day.
Isabel Bridgeman
Main Street Middle School (5th Grade)
