ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The 2025 Black History Month festivities may seem a long time away, but Liberal’s Black History Committee is already making plans to ensure the month’s success.
One of the ways the committee is looking to involve the community in the plans is through a new contest, which coordinator Earmy Najera-Herman said is very exciting.
“For the first time, people in the community have the chance to design the Black History Month t-shirt for our 21st anniversary festivities that will be going on in 2025. The contest opens Sept. 1 and ends Oct. 1, and the winner will be announced Oct. 15,” Najera-Herman said. “The Black History Month theme for 2025 is 'African-Americans in Labor,' and the goal is to highlight the accomplishments of African-Americans in the workforce throughout history. The designs must be submitted as a jpeg, and the contest is open to everyone because so many people don't realize how Black history doesn't encompass just one culture, it encompasses ALL cultures throughout history. We want to reach out to anyone who's got a creative mind and encourage them to show us what they've got. We won't accept any late entries, and the top ten entries will receive a participation certificate, and the overall winner will receive two tickets to the Rosa Parks Scholarship Banquet in February 2025, a free t-shirt, and they will also be recognized at the 2025 Taste Festival.”
The desire for more community involvement, Najera-Herman said, was a particularly driving force behind the contest.
“In the past, we've had several designs by individuals, and those were printed out, so for this time around, we wanted to go back to the drawing board of other things we've done, and we also wanted to include the community more in this process,” Najera-Herman said. “As a committee, we want to reach out to the community and get more people involved, because there are a lot of people who don't know what all we do. 2025 will be our 21st year of existence, which is a big milestone for us.”
With this being the contest’s inaugural year, Najera-Herman said she hopes many local artists will send in submissions.
“If you've got an idea, draw it out and just go for it and do your best. We're not looking for the next Basquiat or Da Vinci or anything like that, we're looking for a design that will grab everyone's attention and works within our theme for this year,” Najera-Herman said. “The inner artist of all the participants should come out, and we're wanting to see what you've drawn. The winning design will also be shared on our social media accounts and a few other places, and it'll be forever known as one of our t-shirt designs. When it comes to Black History Month, the annual theme is actually done at a national level, so the theme is picked at the national level to be used in communities throughout the U.S., so we work with what they give us and work to implement it throughout all of our Black History Month activities. We're really excited to see the creativity from people and what everyone comes up with. We'd love to see great colors and great designs that relate to our theme, and I'd love everyone to come together and just show what they're thinking through their art.”
Najera-Herman added with this being the contest’s first year, the committee is somewhat playing things by ear as far as overall expectations.
“We don't want to set any limits as far as the number of entries or any of that – anyone, anywhere, who has a creative streak who wants to put something together, we encourage you to step up and try, because it very well could be your design that ultimately gets chosen as the winner,” Najera-Herman said. “Once we receive all the entries, we'll sit down as a committee and go through all the submissions and go from there. Basically, the number of entries we receive is what we receive, and with this being our first year doing this contest, we're excited to see what all we get. We are playing things by ear a little bit for this contest since again, it is our first one, but if it goes well, we'd definitely love to do it again. After this contest, we as a committee will discuss how everything went and maybe make some small tweaks, but we do want this to potentially become an annual deal so we can continue reaching out to the community and get more involvement.”
Najera-Herman added she and the committee are proud to have reached 21 years of being part of the Liberal community.
“It's definitely a great milestone to reach. We didn't know if we'd make it this far, but we did, and we couldn't be happier. We just want to continue being part of the community for years to come, and anyone interested in learning more about what we do is more than welcome to get in touch with us,” Najera-Herman said. “We're excited to have been around for 21 years, and we're not slowing down. This contest is a big deal for us, and people should make sure and keep an eye out for our 2025 Black History Month calendar of events, because that month is going to be a good time.”
