HOUSTON — This year, first-place honors for Houston's 28th Annual MLK Jr. Oratory Competition went to an impassioned student of Houston ISD's Blackshear Elementary.
Montoia Murray was seemingly overcome with emotions after her name was announced as the first-place winner.
“What made me feel good about winning was that I get to be a part of this competition and talk about Dr. King,” said Murray. “I was inspired to write my speech because I get to talk about Dr. King and what he did to achieve his goals and what he did to change the world.”
The topic for this year's competition was, "How would Dr. King reflect on the 60 years since his 'I Have a Dream' speech?"
Montoia took us through a timeline of Dr. King's most remarkable moments, beginning her speech with, "If Dr. King could reflect on the 60 years since his 'I Have a Dream speech,' Martin's reflection would be a confession of the goodness of God. First, he would thank God for bringing us over,"
Throughout Montoia's speech, there were laughs, cheers and tears from the audience.
Eleven other elementary students competed in the competition. All of them, including Montoia, were rewarded an iPad and backpack with goodies inside.
Law Elementary student Solieh McKnight placed second, and Pleasantville Elementary student Ilsa Lucia Aguilar placed third.
The students were judged on delivery, stage presence, decorum, content interpretation, and memorization.
Watch all of the speeches in the video player below.