Participate in the Catholic Campaign for Human Development's Creating on the Margins contest with these easy steps!
The contest theme is, "Share the Journey of Young Migrants and Refugees." The contest packet at this link offers more details about these steps:
- Learn about migration and our Catholic response
- Learn about the Two Feet of Love in Action
- Reflect on what you learned
- Develop your creative work
- Use your work to teach others
- Submit your entry to our Diocese of Grand Rapids contact, Mary Wernet (mwernet@ccwestmi.org), by March 1, 2018
The contest ties into the "Share the Journey" campaign to support refugees and migrants. "Share the Journey" is an initiative by Pope Francis, Caritas Internationalis, USCCB, Catholic Charities USA, and Catholic Relief Services. Learn more about "Share the Journey" here.
What is the Creating on the Margins contest?
The Creating on the Margins contest is a tool for schools and parishes to engage young people in the Gospel call of Luke 4:18 to bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. Through the contest, youth will learn about the efforts of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) to address the root causes of poverty in the United States. CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. You can learn more about CCHD at www.usccb.org/cchd.
Through participation in the contest, students in grades 7-12 can explore U.S. poverty or related issues such as migration, in the context of their faith. They will also learn what empowered, low-income persons in their communities are doing to address root causes. This connection with local anti-poverty efforts is vital to creating a meaningful understanding of poverty and engaging youth in action to address it. In response to what they have learned, youth are then guided to utilize creative skills to educate peers, family, friends and others about the root causes of poverty, migration or another important issue highlighted in the annual theme.
The contest is designed to be used across disciplines and is evaluated on two components: the creativity of the work, and the essay answers submitted with the work to demonstrate proper understanding of how we are called to respond as disciples of Jesus when people are living in poverty in our communities.
Youth work can be any medium (video, PowerPoint, short story, painting, poetry, drama, song, or photography). The work must be original and must illustrate the 2018 annual theme, “Share the Journey of Young Migrants and Refugees.” The 2018 theme was selected to coincide with Pope Francis’ launch in September 2017 of a two year, world-wide campaign, through Caritas International, in support of migrants and refugees.
A national grand prize of $500 will be awarded to a single entry, along with a $500 matching grant to a CCHD funded group working to fight poverty, plus a trip to a national awards event for the winner. One prize per grade level category (7-9 and 10-12) will be awarded for national second ($375) and third ($250) place winners, along with matching grants. Submissions are due by March 1, 2018, to our Diocese of Grand Rapids contact, Mary Wernet (mwernet@ccwestmi.org), who can also answer questions about the contest. Contest rules can be found at www.usccb.org/youthcontest. Contest materials are also available in Spanish at www.usccb.org/concurso-juvenil.