OTTAWA–The Ottawa Black Awareness Committee will be having its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest. Theme: have race relations improved since Barack Obama has been elected President? Guidelines: students enrolled in elementary and secondary schools in Franklin County, 450 words or less. Categories are grades 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Essays will be judged on presentation, content, age appropriate syntax and development of thought. Deadline for entries: December 22. Award recipients will be notified by January 12, 2010. Winners: 1st place a $200 U.S. Savings Bond; 2nd place, $100 bond; 3rd place, $75 bond; and 4th place, $50 bond. Winning essays will be read at the Martin Luther King Jr. Program at the Ottawa University Chapel on Sunday, January 17, 2010. Essays can be sent to Richard Jackson, PO Box 40, Ottawa, KS 66067 or brought by the ECKAN central office at 1320 S. Ash in Ottawa.