By Susan Ciancio
October is Respect Life Month—a month to reflect upon God’s call to care for all people. As has been tradition for the Culture of Life Studies Program in October, we are hosting our annual pro-life essay contest. Cosponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, this essay contest is a great opportunity for children and teens to make their voices heard.
This year, our contest is split into two groups—middle school for kids in 5th-8th grades and high school for kids in 9th to 12th grades. We have two new prompts and a huge list of prizes that includes not only cash and pro-life goodies but publication in Celebrate Life Magazine!
Prolifeessay.com gives you all the details!
At CLSP, we create pro-life lessons and we write blogs to instruct kids in pre-K-12th grade about pro-life topics, so why do we also host this essay contest? We explain!
1) This contest is a fantastic way for your children to not only learn to articulate their pro-life beliefs but to bravely stand up for them.
Many kids today seem to want to blend in with the crowd. It can be difficult for them to stand out, especially when it comes to emotionally charged topics such as abortion. It takes moral courage to speak out when a friend or acquaintance is advocating for a woman’s “right” to choose. But today’s children will be tomorrow’s pro-life leaders. It is our responsibility to give them the proper tools to speak the truth in charity and love.
2) The essay contest allows your children’s voices to be heard.
We absolutely love reading what your children have to say about pro-life topics. Not only do their words inspire us to keep up the work we are doing to teach, but they help us focus our work on areas that children need direction in. We are creating new lessons daily, and we want those lessons to resonate with your children. We want to help build that foundation of respect for all people—born and preborn, old and young, sick and healthy—so that children can grow up understanding that all people have value and that God is the Author of Life.
3) The essay contest allows children to take ownership and pride in their beliefs.
We intentionally provide essay prompts that allow your children to be creative in their answers while adhering to our guidelines. This gives your children the opportunity to think about what they really believe and to strengthen their arguments with facts. We hope that they also talk with you parents before they begin writing so that they can ask questions and clarify any points of confusion. As children write and complete their essay, they have approximately 500 of their own words to reflect on and to feel proud of. They can stand up and say “This is what I believe!” The more opportunities they have for voicing their beliefs, the stronger their resolve to continue expressing them and the stronger their desire to keep learning the truths of our faith.
We are excited about our new prompts, and if this year is anything like previous years, we know that we will receive some amazing essays. In fact, in past contests it has been incredibly difficult to choose the winners. We hope it’s difficult this year too!
Essays can be turned in anytime between today and November 6. Winners will be announced in December. The format, rules, prizes, and all the information you need to submit are on prolifeessay.com.
Every year as the essays roll in, we grow increasingly excited to read what your students have to say. This year is no different. So visit prolifeessay.com with your kids and encourage them to start writing! We can’t wait to hear their thoughts!