WINNERS OF COLORADO LINCOLN SCHOLASTIC CONTEST
Three Colorado students were top winners of the state’s Lincoln Bicentennial Scholastic Contest and recognized at an Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 20th at Mountain Range High School in Westminster.
First Prize of $500 went to Soleil Worthy, 7th-grader from Aurora Quest K-8 School, for her poem “Be Like Lincoln.” Second Prize of $400 went to Raine Reilly, 2nd-grader from Independence Academy in Grand Junction, for his collage of “How Me and Abe Are Alike.” Third Prize of $300 went to Matthew Menezes, 11th-grader from Monarch High School in Louisville, for his essay “From Hypocrisy, the Way to Utopia.”
Click here to read Soleil’s “Be Like Lincoln.”
Click here to read Raine’s “How Me and Abe Are Alike.”
Click here to read Menezes’ “From Hypocrisy, the Way to Utopia.”
Sponsored by the state’s Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, created by the Governor to commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the contest invited Colorado students of all ages to imagine Lincoln as their model through essays, creative writing, or visual art. Four-hundred and fifty students from across the state submitted entries. The ceremony recognized 115 finalists and bronze, silver, and gold prize winners from all seven Congressional Districts of Colorado. Certificates and cash awards of $8,000 were made possible by the Colorado Bar Association and Ethics Game, represented at the ceremony by CBA president William Walters and Executive Director Chuck Turner, and Ethics Game founder Cathryn Baird.
The ceremony featured Lincoln presenter John Voehl, who conveyed the sixteenth President’s thoughts on liberty, life-long study, and decency — subjects explored in the students’ work. Winners and their guests heard music of the Civil War era, performed on authentic instruments and in full regalia by the celebrated 4th Artillery Regimental Brass Band of Colorado, led by Virgil Hughes. Commission member and State Senator Ted Harvey lauded the vision of Lincoln and the achievement of the finalists.
Coordinated by Mountain Range High School teacher Brooke Tolmachoff and Lincoln Commission member Thorvald Nelson, the contest embodied the Commission’s goal to encourage dialogue about the “unfinished work” of democracy and equal opportunity in our own time, and to bring Lincoln’s ideals into the lives of young people of Colorado.