2025-2026 Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest
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The Knights of Columbus sponsors the Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest to encourage 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…and to encourage youth to become citizens grounded in their faith through creative writing. (8th grade students only compete against other 8th grade student essays, etc. for grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.) 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.” (As a general guideline, students write their essays during August-November, councils judge them during November/December, and the Georgia State judging is in January.) Georgia State Council Awards!! Individual councils often present checks to council winners. On top of those local awards, the Georgia State Council will award a $100.00 check to each First Place winner, and a $50.00 check to each Second Place winner! THE 2025-2026 ESSAY TOPIC “Out of 267 Popes who have led the Catholic Church, who are your three favorite Popes, and why?” State Council Essay Chairman Richard Hayden sent a comprehensive email in July to all Grand Knights, District Deputies, and Faithful Navigators with the actual steps in this contest, including the Georgia State Council’s timetable. Councils interested in conducting this contest need to order the Catholic Citizenship Essay Kit (#EA-Kit) from Supreme, which includes entry forms, winners’ certificates, etc. Contact Richard Hayden at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more details, including this year’s timetable. Form 10784 Reporting Please remember to complete the Fraternal Programs Report Form at the completion of your Catholic Citizens Essay Contest. Watch the Form 10784 Tutorial here: |
Catholic Citizenship Essay - Council Action Steps
COUNCIL ACTION STEPS:
[These are the detailed steps for conducting this contest!]
1. Identify a program chairman to oversee all action steps and delegate tasks, as needed. If coordinating with the parish or school, confirm pastor or principal approval with grand knight, and then set up subsequent collaboration meetings.
2. Contact your Grand Knight, Financial Secretary, or program director to order the Catholic Citizenship Essay Kit (#EA-Kit) through Supplies Online via Officers Online. This should be ordered in July or August – it really helps – and includes sample forms, blank certificates for you winners, sample news releases, etc.
3. Use the sample News Release (#10643) as a model to create and distribute a tailored release to local media.
4. 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
5. Ensure that all essays are collected by the pre-determined date.
6. Assemble a team of three or more judges (consisting of clergy, teachers, and other respected members of the Catholic community) to select winning submissions.
[Note: In Georgia, it has been my (Richard Hayden’s) procedure at the State judging level to make a copy of each essay for my judges, labeling each with a different letter of the alphabet and obscuring the name and sex of the student to reduce the possibility of bias. I suggest each council consider doing the same.]
7. Make a formal presentation of winners and invite the media to attend (refer to Public Relations and Publicity Guidelines #2235)! 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.
8. Councils then mail their winning essays (the original, not a copy) along with the Entry Form (#4208) to their District Deputy for District Judging. District Deputies, after conducting District Judging, need to mail their winning essays and entry forms to: Richard Hayden – 1906 Chatham Drive – Albany, GA 31721.
If the District Deputy tells you that no other councils in his District are participating in this year’s contest, you may mail the winning essays and entry forms directly to Richard Hayden.
9. Following the Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest, update the community on the success of your program by amending the Catholic Citizenship Essay sample Winners Announcement (#10644) and distributing it to local media, along with energizing photographs from the event.
10. To gain credit for your program, complete the associated reporting forms.
• Immediately after your event is finished, complete the Fraternal Programs Report Form (#10784)
• At the end of the fraternal year, complete the Columbian Award Application (#SP-7).