Youths throughout the diocese have expressed their commitment to respecting and protecting human life in the recent Youth Apostles Pro-life Multimedia Contest. Some 232 participants competed in six media categories: essays, posters, PowerPoints, memes, spoken word and videos.
Through the contest, Youth Apostles hoped to provide a vehicle for youths to express themselves artistically and to creatively apply pro-life principles and express respect and support for unborn human life. Youth Apostles also sought to support and complement the instruction youths receive in school, religious education, youth ministry programs and communities, and from parents.
Youth Apostles has held essay contests since 1993, and poster contests since 1999. New categories have been added gradually since 2021. There were two divisions: senior (grades 9-12) and junior (grades 7-8).
The participants illustrated a deep understanding of the sanctity of human life and were articulate in conveying their points — and created beautiful art in communicating their message. More important, they provide a ray of hope that succeeding generations will meet the challenges of protecting and respecting life. And they bear witness to the important work that teachers, parents, and youth ministers are doing in inculcating prolife values.
Clare Doherty captured it well in her spoken word entry: “Our commitment to the unborn is a commitment to the future.”
Essays
Theme: Change Hearts to Save the Unborn
Junior Division
First Place: Cecelia Duncan, St. Timothy Catholic School, Chantilly
Second Place: Juliet Marrone, Our Lady of Hope Catholic School, Potomac Falls
Honorable Mention:
Blake Batchelor, St. Timothy Catholic School
Anastasia Jarvis, Angelus Academy, Springfield
Jack Krako, Angelus Academy
Isabel Liu, All Saints Catholic School, Manassas
Leah Silk, Our Lady of Hope Catholic School
Posters
Theme: Prolife, No Matter What
Senior Division
First Place: Ruby Jarvis, Mother of Divine Grace School, Philadlphia
Second Place: Morgan Roberts, St. Paul VI Catholic High School, Chantilly
Junior Division
First Place: Taylor Doar, Angelus Academy
Second Place: Emily Copeland, Our Lady of Good Counsel School, Vienna
Honorable Mention:
Sidney Aglio, Our Lady of Good Counsel School
Sam Cautero, Angelus Academy
Gavin Havey, Our Lady of Good Counsel School
Charlotte Huly, St. Timothy Catholic School
Gianna Jolley, Our Lady of Hope Catholic School
Samantha Kebit, Our Lady of Good Counsel School
Anna Lima, All Saints Catholic School
Chase Sinclair, All Saints Catholic School
Lylah Stenstrom, St. Timothy Catholic School
PowerPoint
Theme: What Commitment to the Unborn Means
Junior Division
First Place: Gabriel Savage, All Saints Catholic School
Second Place: Diego Sokolowski, All Saints Catholic School
Memes
Theme: Must have a pro-life theme
Senior Division
First Place: Sara Ugaz, St. Paul VI Catholic High School
Junior Division
First Place: Samuel Salama, St. Timothy Catholic School
Second Place: Sam Weigler, All Saints Catholic School
Honorable Mention:
Nicky Conforti, St. Timothy Catholic School
Sebastian MacGregor, St. Timothy Catholic School
Caden Pilon, St. Timothy Catholic School
Spoken Word
Theme: What Commitment to the Unborn Means
Senior Division
First Place: Juyeong Kim, St. Paul VI Catholic High School
Junior Division
First Place: Maureen Ojeda, St. Timothy Catholic School
Second Place: Clare Doherty, St. Timothy Catholic School
Honorable Mention:
Anna Fairchild, St. Timothy Catholic School
Video
Theme: Must have a pro-life theme
Junior Division
First Place: Daniel Paras, St. Timothy Catholic School
