The Sacred Heart Knights of Columbus are working with Sacred Heart Academy to sponsor a council essay contest which is associated with the Knight’s Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest. The essay theme is “The Importance of Religious Freedom.” The contest is open to all Catholic students from grade 6 – 12 in the Sacred Heart Parish area.
TIMELINE
- August 29th – Start of council essay contest
- October 23rd – All entries are due
- November 20th – Council winners submitted to district level competition
- December 15th – Announcement of council winners
THEME
The theme of the essay contest is “The Importance of Religious Freedom.” The contest opens the doors of young minds, enabling the entrants to be creative, thoughtful and introspective in their work.
GUIDELINES
- Essays must reflect the assigned theme and be the student’s original work.
- Essays must be typed and be between 500 and 750 words in length.
- Essays must be typed on 8 1/2” X 11” paper, one sided, double spaced, with one-inch margins.
- The student’s name 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.
GOAL
The goal of the Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest is to give students an opportunity to define the role of a Catholic citizen in many different scenarios, and to strengthen the bond between the Knights of Columbus and local schools.
ELIGIBILITY
The Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest is open to all Catholic students – in public, private or parochial schools – in grades 8,9,10,11 and 12 during the current school year. The Sacred Heart council will also allow students in grades 6 and 7 to participate at the council level.
JUDGING
Essays will be judged on a 100-point scoring system:
- 35 points: Content – How clearly is the theme presented?
- 30 points: Grammar – How well is the essay written with respect to sentence structure, paragraph construction and spelling?
- 35 points: Style – Does the essay show creativity, imagination and development of the topic in a compelling style?
AWARDS
Council level awards will consist of Schulers gift cards and winners certificates.
The top three international level winners for each grade (8 – 12) will receive monetary awards: $300 for 1st place, and $100 each for 2 runners up in each grade level. Checks are accompanied by a framed certificate signed by the Supreme Knight.