Division I (Grades 6–8) - 1st Place Winner: Clarissa Vokt
Spreading the Good News Today

In the days when Christianity was still forming, men such as Paul and Peter had much difficulty spreading the good news of God, but were very determined to do so, just as the Maryknoll missioners are today.  They had to sail to different lands, only to have stones thrown at them by the people when they started to preach about the Good News.

Today, we do not have to sail the seas to get the news across. We have the Internet. Popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google and more can all help us spread the Good News to others.

The ways that I share the news is posting and reading articles on the social network websites about men and women doing good deeds in our community, to encourage others to do the same.  I also send messages to others telling them to go to church on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist, and learn all about the Good News.

I spread the news almost all the time when I help out at places in my community. Sometimes I volunteer to help at the park where I help clean up after the animals and wash their feeding bowls so they always have clean water, because they are also God’s creation, and should be treated so.  If I am not doing community service, then usually I will go around the house and search for items that we no longer use, and donate them to organizations such as The Salvation Army to help those in poverty who do not have the luxuries we take for granted each day.

I experience the Good News being spread almost every day when I listen to the radio. There is a radio station called Catholic Radio that my mother and I listen to almost every day, and it is always talking about the Gospel, answering questions about our beliefs, and telling us about campaigns and upcoming Catholic events in our community. One such campaign is called “40 Days for Life." This campaign draws attention to the evils of abortion with a three-point program including prayer and fasting, constant vigil and community outreach.  My family joined this campaign together and we have blue wristbands we wear to show our support and spread the Good News everywhere we go.

Catholic Radio has expanded my knowledge of the Gospel and inspired me to share this Good News with my friends and neighbors.  This radio station has their own page on Facebook so I decided to join it and share the Good News with my friends on the social network, who did the same.

The Good News is being spread everywhere, from the radio to popular websites, and through community service, and is spread by everyone, including teenagers and older men and women.  The ways which the Good News is being spread may have changed over the past hundred years, but the meaning still stays the same, and today it is as alive as ever.

Clarissa Vokt, an eighth grader at St. John Vianney School in San Jose, Calif., wins the $1,000 Bishop Francis X. Ford Award, named in honor of the Maryknoll missioner who died in a prison in China in 1952.