Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest

A Higher Purpose
Encourage youth in your community to become citizens grounded in their faith through creative writing. Open to all Catholic students (public, private, home, or parochial schools) in grades 8 to 12 during the current school year.

Overview
This contest encourages today’s youth to be more connected to their community and their faith. The goal of this program is to involve young Catholics in 8th through 12th grade (public, private, parochial or home schools) in civic discourse and instill in them religious and life-affirming values. The essay should be approximately 500-750 words on a specific subject, changing every other year. Entrants will be judged on grammar, style, and how clearly they present the theme – which should showcase creativity, imagination and overall development of the topic.

Action Steps
Theme
Resources

Action Steps

Order the Catholic Citizenship Essay Kit (#EA-KIT) through Supplies Online, the supply ordering portal available on Officers Online.
Use the sample press release as a model to create and distribute a tailored release to local media.
Build public interest for the event! Promote the Catholic Citizenship Essay in your parish and larger community through a variety of efforts:
- Advertise at Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) meetings, in parish halls, and especially in local Catholic schools. Prominently display promotional posters (found in the Catholic Citizenship Essay Kit (#EA-KIT)).
- Reach out and encourage Catholic School English teachers to use this as a class assignment.
- Bulletin announcements
- Pulpit announcements
- Posting on your council and parish website / social media pages
Ensure that all essays are collected by the pre-determined date.
Assemble a team of three or more judges (consisting of clergy, teachers, and other respected members of the Catholic community) to select winning submissions.
Make a formal presentation of winners and invite the media to attend! On the day of the presentation, be sure to wear Knights of Columbus-branded apparel and enlist a fellow Knight or community member to photograph the event.
Send winning essays to the next highest level for judging. Contact your district deputy to learn where the winning essays should be mailed. If there are no higher levels in your area or jurisdiction, send the essays to the Supreme Office Department of Fraternal Mission for the final round of judging.
Following the Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest, update the community on the success of your program by amending the Catholic Citizenship Essay sample announcement and distributing it to local media, along with energizing photographs from the event.
To gain credit for your program, complete the associated reporting forms and submit them to the Supreme Council Department of Fraternal Mission. Remember to retain copies for your council records.
- Immediately after your event is finished, complete the Essay Contest Participation Form (#4216) and Fraternal Programs Report Form (#10784).
- At the end of the fraternal year, complete your Columbian Award Application (#SP-7)

Theme

2018-2019 Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest Theme:

How does your family keep its Catholic Faith in Action?

"Faith in action is love, and love in action is service. By transforming that faith into living acts of love, we put ourselves in contact with God himself, with Jesus our Lord." - Saint Mother Teresa　

As Catholics, we are called to joyfully and enthusiastically live our faith. But in a world of increasing noise, constant activity, and so much self-interest, sometimes it can feel impossible to focus on what is truly most important: our families, our communities, our faith, and our Lord. Jesus challenged his disciples: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20:21, NABRE). He sends us. How have we taken up the call?

Our Catholic faith is the starting point of all our actions. In ways both large and small, our families constantly rise to Christ's challenge. In an essay of 500-750 words, reflect on how your family puts its Catholic faith in action, every day. This could be through daily prayers as a family, volunteering to help the less fortunate in your community or even just reminding those in your life of how much they mean to you.

Resources

Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest Resources

All supplies and kits should be ordered by your council Grand Knight or Financial Secretary using the Supplies Online application available through Officers Online. Please note that Guide Sheets, Press Releases, etc. are available below as PDFs.

Kit Contents
Order the Catholic Citizenship Essay Kit (#EA-Kit) through Supplies Online, the supply ordering portal available on Officers Online.

#4202- Guidebook
#4208- Entry Form
#4216- Participation Form
#4209- Vertical Poster
#4206- Participant Certificate
#4207- Winners Certificate