Idea: Essay Contest for High School Students
Submitted by: Rev. Damian MacPherson, SA
Director for Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs
Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada
Hi! This is an idea that works really, really well.
By the 2008 centenary anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity the essay contest for high school students across the province of Ontario, Canada, which I conduct, will be in its fifth year. Ecumenism does not get any more grass roots than this.
Using the annual theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (enter GEII web page), I invite Catholic high school students to develop a 500 word essay around that particular annual theme which is always a quote from the scriptures. Teachers will sometimes use this invitation as a class project. This project is conducted in conjunction with The Catholic Register, which has readership across Canada. A team of four judges, including staff from the Catholic Register and myself judge the essays. The first prize is $500.00, an amount of $250.00 is awarded to the second prize winner and consolation prises for third, fourth and fifth are awarded, eg. a one year free subscription to the Catholic Register.
The winning essay is published in the Catholic Register during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the other four essays are published in the following subsequent weeks.
Success requires a degree of patience. Unlike the initiating year of the project, students now look forward to the call for essays, increasing the volume of responses. It really, really works.
