The Madd Hatta has a question for the next generation of storytellers at Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M University: What does Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream mean to you and the people around you? He wants the answer in a video, told in a student’s own voice.
Through the Madd Hatta Cares Foundation, the Houston radio personality is offering five $1,000 scholarships at each school. That is $10,000 across the two HBCUs, according to KPRC 2’s September 30 report. It is an opening for students studying communications, media, film, performing arts and related fields to put their craft to work.
Make the answer your own
The I Am the Dream contest calls for an Instagram video no longer than 60 seconds. Students can use music, poetry, spoken word or a short film to explain why King’s dream matters to them and their community. Hatta told KPRC that he wants students’ own creative work and asked them not to use AI in their entries.
Hatta’s ties to this opportunity run through HBCUs. He attended North Carolina A&T State University, KPRC reported, and later helped build The Vibe at TSU’s KTSU. The Houston Defender reported that an earlier version of the scholarship centered TSU. This time, he has brought Prairie View students into the invitation, with the funding divided evenly between the schools.
A one minute application asks for more than a polished edit. It asks students to name the community they are speaking from and the future they can imagine for it. For a young artist or broadcaster, that is a real assignment. The prize money matters, too: each selected student receives $1,000, not $5,000. The $5,000 figure is the allocation to each university.
Deadline: October 12
Students should check the foundation’s official site and the contest post for any updated instructions before publishing their entry. The entry details below come from KPRC and the Defender; The Yard has not independently obtained a complete set of foundation rules. If this sounds like your field, leave time to make the piece unmistakably yours.