Two years ago, Bangor writer Annaliese Jakimides was listening to “This I Believe,” National Public Radio’s semiregular program offering people the chance to speak their minds about their personal beliefs. Inspired by the words she heard, she decided to compose her own essay, more as an exercise in writing than an attempt to actually get on the air.

Nevertheless, when she was finished, she sent her essay to NPR, and within two weeks was pleasantly surprised to receive a response. The producers were very interested in using her piece.

“It wasn’t that I was initially considering submitting,” said Jakimides. “I just thought, ‘If I sit down and write one of these essays, it will be good for me.’ It wasn’t with the intention of getting on the program.”

After a long process of editing and refining, Jakimides’ essay will be aired on MPBN on “This I Believe” at approximately 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, during Sunday’s Morning Edition broadcast.

She is the first contributor to the program from Maine, and her essay was one of the few chosen from over 35,000 submissions.

“I didn’t go into knowing what my core belief was,” said Jakimides, who doesn’t want to reveal any details about the content of her piece until it airs Sunday. “Once I was in the process, I was on a roll. That’s how I write: I don’t know where I’m going until I arrive somewhere, and it’s often a surprise to me. It makes the process very interesting.”

Jakimides is in good company; other contributors to “This I Believe” include Colin Powell, Bill Gates, Isabel Allende, John Updike and many others. Originally started in the 1950s by Edward R. Murrow as a way to let Americans from all walks of life talk about what mattered to them, “This I Believe” was brought back in 2005 by host Jay Allison and producer Dan Gediman, with the same intentions.

One of the things Jakimides likes best about the program is its democratic approach to compiling a wealth of wisdom, experience and eloquence. A regular Joe or Jane is listed right next to politicians and billionaires.

“Every essay gives people a way to look at their own lives. You open a channel, and there’s a new perspective,” she said. “Every one of us out there has a belief that is central to our core. I know I do, and this one is the one that surfaced. It came unbidden, and there it is. That’s the beauty of it. It’s remarkably straightforward and honest, and I think that’s what people respond to.”

Jakimides’ broadcast comes on the heels of a very successful year for the writer. In addition to her essays to Bangor Metro magazine, she had a short story published in an anthology alongside Alice McDermott and Lydia Davis, has work forthcoming in the collections “About Face” and “A Seaside Companion,” and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, the prestigious award for writers who publish through small presses.

“I have been very fortunate locally, and now I am fortunate on a national level. I feel very lucky,” she said.