MALA invites Muslim Americans to tell their stories for America’s 250th anniversary

As the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, the Muslim American Leadership Alliance has launched a national creative expression contest inviting Americans of Muslim heritage to tell stories of freedom, belonging, responsibility, and contribution.

The contest, “Liberty & Legacy: Muslim Americans Celebrate America’s 250th,” gives Muslim American writers, artists, filmmakers, photographers, designers, and spoken-word creators an opportunity to reflect on their families, communities, civic lives, and place in the American story. Contest page: https://malanational.org/america-250/

According to MALA, the initiative encourages participants to explore how Muslim Americans have contributed to the country through entrepreneurship, public service, creativity, civic engagement, family resilience, and leadership. The contest seeks to move beyond political division by focusing on opportunity, aspiration, and the responsibilities that come with freedom.

Submissions may take the form of essays, art, photography, film, spoken word, and other creative formats. Suggested prompts invite participants to reflect on how their families have lived the American Dream, identify historic Muslim American contributions, spotlight stories made possible by American freedoms, and explain how the United States has served as a haven for Muslims fleeing persecution.

Entries will be judged on focused response to the prompt, creativity and originality, quality of storytelling or artistic expression, and a vision for contributing to society. The contest offers a $2,500 grand prize, five $500 second-place prizes, public recognition, and leadership opportunities connected to the America 250 celebration.

The honorary judges include leaders whose careers reflect public service, civic participation, interfaith engagement, education, law, policy, and Muslim American achievement. Among them are Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, founder of Ideas Beyond Borders; Imam Talib M. Shareef, president and imam of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C.; and Dr. Zahid Quraishi, the first Muslim American confirmed as an Article III federal judge.

For Muslim Americans, the contest is more than a competition. It is a national invitation to document memory, identity, service, and hope at a defining moment in American history. It offers young people, families, artists, professionals, and community leaders a platform to show that Muslim American life is not separate from the American story, but deeply woven into it.

As America approaches 250 years, MALA’s initiative reminds the country that patriotism can also be expressed through storytelling, creativity, honest reflection, and service to the common good.

Editor: Mutiu Olawuyi