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Last year’s breakfast was the first in five years that was unified. During the split, the events were often at the same time in different locations.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville is preparing for the 38th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast.
The theme of this year’s event is “Audacious Faith in the Future,” which is a phrase from King’s 1964 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. The Jacksonville Branch NAACP, the Jacksonville Urban League, and the JAX Chamber and Florida Blue are presenting the event.
This marks the second consecutive breakfast after a five-year schism between the city and organizers.
“For a variety of reasons, five years ago, we began to have competing MLK breakfasts in Jacksonville,” Mayor Donna Deegan said last year. “We are closing that chapter. It is a new day, we are returning to one Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Breakfast moving forward.”
The breakfast begins at 7 a.m. at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center on Jan. 17. The program is hosted by First Coast News’ Anthony Austin and channel 30/47’s Dawn Lopez.
The program will feature a keynote address by Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “King: A Life.” Eig will then talk with Community Foundation for Northeast Florida President Isaiah Oliver. The event will commemorate the 125th anniversary of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn written by Jacksonville native James Weldon Johnson and composed by his brother J. Rosamund Johnson.
This year’s program will also celebrate the students who “embody Dr. King’s service, leadership, and civic responsibility principles,” a press release said. Winners were chosen from essay, poetry, and visual arts submissions inspired by King’s quote, “We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”
Individual tickets can be purchased before the event or until they are sold out for $70. Corporate tables are $700. Tickets are available at JaxMLKBreakfast.com. Reserved tables for 10 must be purchased by Jan. 10. Parking is free.
The contest’s winners are:
- 1st Place Winner: Kynlei Gibbs – 9th Grade – Riverside High School
- 1st Runner Up: Juriyah Gilmore – Grade 9 – Riverside High School
- 2nd Runner Up: Zohli Harris – Grade 9 – Riverside High School
Middle School – Visual Arts
- 1st Place Winner: Diego Muñoz – Grade 7 – Westview K-8
- 1st Runner Up: Delilah Meza – Grade 7 – Landmark Middle School
- 2nd Runner Up: Amari Saint-Vil – Grade 8 – Matthew W. Gilbert Middle School
Elementary School – Essay
- 1st Place Winner: Tyson Jones – Grade 5 – Biscayne Elementary Leadership Academy
- 1st Runner Up: Millionaire Paige – Grade – Andrew A. Robinson Elementary
- 2nd Runner Up: Skye Stuckey – Grade 5 – Biscayne Elementary Academy
