2024-2025 Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest

Overview

All 8th Graders (OLS and Religious Education students) are invited to participate in the 2024-2025 Knights of Columbus (K of C) Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest. This contest encourages today’s youth to be more connected to their community and their Catholic faith through creative writing. The local contest is being hosted by St. Francis Knights of Columbus Council #4401.

Student essays must be original compositions of 500-750 words that address the following topic:

Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. It governs our acts, orders our passions, and guides our conduct by reason and faith. It also encourages Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. The call to live a virtuous life applies to individuals in every state of life and occupation, including our elected leaders.

In an essay of 500-750 words, what are the two most important virtues for an elected leader to possess, and why? How can you determine if the leader has these virtues?

Deadline for submissions is December 13, 2024 at 10:00pm. We expect to complete judging over the holidays and announce winners in early January.

Prizes
Cash prizes of $150 (1st Place), $100 (2nd Place) and $50 (3rd Place) will be awarded.

Instructions

1. Download the entry form by clicking here.
2. Fill out the top portion of the entry form and have your parent/guardian sign.
3. Scan or take a picture of the completed entry form. (Only the 1st page is needed. You do not need to include the 2nd page)
4. Write your 500-750 word essay on the topic described and save as a doc, docx, or pdf file.
   Please only include your name in the filename of the document (example: john-smith-essay.pdf).
   Do NOT include your name anywhere in the text of the essay (above or below). If your essay contains your name we will need to remove it before sending to the judges. This may lead to the formatting of your essay (margins, font, etc) to change.
5. Upload your essay file and entry form file below.

For technical assistance with your entry or problems related to your submission, please have your parent/guardian email jimfilbert@gmail.com

For questions regarding the essay contest, topic, prizes, or judging, please have your parent/guardian email tprancour@gmail.com