OVERVIEW

Conducting a Knights of Columbus Catholic Citizenship Essay  Contest is a fun and easy way to put your faith into action and get youth in your community involved in their faith.  This essay contest utilizes a key theme that is established annually by the Knights of Columbus which helps to  energize them to become active citizens grounded in their faith.

GUIDELINES

-Essays must reflect the assigned theme and be the student's original work.

-Essays must be typed and be between 500-750 words in length.

-The student's names should appear only on the official Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest entry form, which must be stapled to the essay.

-All entries become the property of the Knights of Columbus and will not be returned.

RECOGNITION

Recognize everyone participating by presenting the included participation certificates to all who submit entries and school/council champion certificates to your school's/council’s winners. With advance planning, local Knights of Columbus councils, District or State leadership can work with you in providing a special award for each division winner. Example: 1st Place in Each Division to receive a $25 GC to Jamba Juice, etc. All runner's up to receive applicable Certificates.

JUDGING:

Judges (three or more) will be selected by the School and/or the Knights of Columbus. Judges may include Council and/or assembly members, teachers, clergy, civil officials and/or members of the community may serve as judges. Essays will be judged on a 100-point scoring system:

-35 points: Content How clearly is the theme presented?

-30 points: Grammar does the essay reflect proper sentence and paragraph structure and utilize correct spelling?

-35 points: Style does the essay show creativity, imagination and development of the topic in a compelling style?

All scores should be recorded on the entry form/score sheet.   Please coordinate with your Knights of Columbus partners for help with securing judges. Judging may also be executed digitally.

SUGGESTED TIMETABLE & SUGGESTED QUICK PLANNER:

• September/October: Work with you KofC partners to order a complete program kit for your school.
• October/November: Implement Essay contest into your School's English or Literature curriculum. 
• November/December: Final stage to complete all entries, deadline to be set no later than December 1, 2021.
• December: Work with Parish/Pastor to showcase essays, perhaps in the vestibule to showcase pre-Sunday mass. Essays may be displayed anonymously.
• January: (Possible Catholic School Week) Essay Contest Awards presentation. Invite Knights to help with presentation and awards.

RECAP OF BENEFITS:

1. Program materials and guidelines, including certificate templates are all provided for you.
2. Criteria and program pre established, ready to go from the box!
3. Energize your youth and candidates to become active citizens grounded in their faith.
4. 1st Place awards to be provided to you (requires advance communication and planning) by the Knights of Columbus. 
5. DFY curriculum and contest for your School!
6. School winners move onto District and/or State finals where additional awards and prizes are available.
7. KofC to promote contest online, in the Hawaii Catholic Herald and other platforms to provide maximum exposure to the contest and the School.
8. Support throughout the process for this Faith Filled Fun program