FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leslie Palma
917-697-7039
TITUSVILLE, FL -- Priests for Life and its youth outreach, Stand True, today announced the winners of a pro-life essay contest for students in junior high, high school and college.
The topic for junior high and high school students was “Be My Vote for the Unborn,” which invited writers to explore the ways even those too young to vote, or brand-new voters, can help influence an election. The top prize in the junior high division was $300, and the high school winner will receive $500.
Mary Grover, a sixth grader from Owings, Maryland, won the junior high division with her essay, “Voteless, Not Voiceless.”
Charlotte Swannack, a homeschooled high school junior from Cary, N.C., won her division with “Stand for the Unborn.”
The topic for college students, “The Duty to Vote Pro-life,” asked entrants to convey persuasive reasons why pro-life people need to vote and how the abortion issue affects their vote. The top prize was $1,000.
Grace Walker-Ros, a junior at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, was chosen the winner of that division with her piece titled, “A Civic Duty to Defend Life.”
“The young people in the pro-life movement are as passionate about pro-life and as committed to ending abortion as all the generations that preceded them,” said Bryan Kemper, youth outreach director and founder of Stand True. “I was very impressed with our winners.”
Priests for Life Executive Director Janet Morana, a former schoolteacher, said she, too, was inspired by the thought that went into the essays and the quality of the writing.
“These students, even the youngest ones, displayed a real level of maturity in understanding the issues surrounding abortion and in explaining the reasons they are pro-life,” she said. “It was eye-opening for me.”
Priests for Life National Director Frank Pavone concurred.
“This essay contest is another indication that these young people are not just the future leaders of the pro-life movement; they are leaders today. They each have influence,” Pavone said.
The contest winners will be honored at the 30th annual National Memorial for the Pre-born and Their Mothers and Fathers on Jan. 24 at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
Read their award-winning entries at StandTrue.com.