The final event celebrating Black History Month was the winner’s reception for the MLK writing contest hosted by the Diversity Team on Feb. 27.

Nicholas Needs of Peru won first place for his essay on “Electing to Choose Justice” and tied with Stephanie Bias of Dimmick for her poem “To the women that say we don’t need feminism anymore.”

In a second place tie, Sam Brolley of Ottawa won for his poem “The Fruits of My Land,” Lisa Chounard of La Salle for her poem “Racism Painted Pretty” and April Jording of Lostant for her untitled essay.

In third, Adam Falkenhayn of Princeton placed with his essay “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” and J.Q. Church of La Salle for his poem “Seun van Afrika.”

IVCC Diversity Team chairwoman, Amanda Cook Fesperman said “Awarding seven awards was the right thing to do. We were really pleased with both the quantity and quality of entries this year, and after the results came in, we felt it was the right thing to do to honor the hard work and important insights into Civil Rights so evident in this year’s entries,” she said.