Poster contest for high school students intends to raise awareness of Gospel call for solidarity

Friday, Jan. 20, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — A new poster contest is offering high school students a chance to have their graphic design skills recognized diocesan-wide.

The contest, offered through the Diocese of Salt Lake City, seeks entries that “creatively and vibrantly illustrate our common Gospel call to join in solidarity with our brothers and sisters locally, nationally and globally through acts of charity and justice,” according to the contest handout.

The criteria for the contest is that the design will “explain to all Catholics in a simple, visually striking design how we as individual Catholics can join together to fulfill our Gospel call to serve the least among us in our parishes, state, nation and across nations,” as explained on the contest handout. Contest entries will be judged on the creativity of the work and the work’s effectiveness at displaying “the interconnected nature of each individual Catholic and [the diocese’s] charity and justice works” in different organizations.

The winning entry will receive $100, with second and third place receiving $75 and $50 respectively.

The purpose of the contest is to engage the Catholic youth in charity efforts, and to increase awareness of the impact of the diocese, said Susan Dennin, the diocesan director of communications. 

Many people are unaware that the diocese participates in charity efforts on all levels, local and global, she said. For example, Catholic Community Services, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Relief Services all operate on local, national and global levels.

The idea for the graphic design contest came out of this lack of knowledge among Catholics, said Dennin, who considered it an absolute necessity to use high school students to design a graphic that would capture the connectivity of the diocese with the rest of the country and the world.

“Students are on the cutting edge of graphic design. … With all their talents, it’s amazing what they can put out there. Kids have a vision, a way of graphically displaying things in a new way,” Dennin said. 

The students will design a graphic that will help Catholics statewide understand their part in the bigger picture, all while learning more about it themselves, she said.

“We want to involve and teach students” at the same time, said Jean Hill, government liaison for the Diocese of Salt Lake and the diocesan director of Catholic Relief Services. 

Getting high school students more involved with the diocese has always been a big concern, she said. Asking high school students to be involved in a diocesan effort to raise awareness for what the diocese does will kill two birds with one stone, she said.

“A picture is worth a thousand words, right?” Hill asked. “I could talk about [the diocese’s projects] for two hours, but I’m going to lose people. … We want people to understand what our faith means on a global level.”

It has not been decided yet where or how the winning graphic will be displayed, Hill said. It could be displayed on posters in parishes and schools all around the state, she said. The winning design may also be featured on diocesan brochures and on materials produced by CRS.

This contest will be a step in the right direction toward raising awareness of what the diocese does in Utah and around the world, Dennin said. 

“We’re excited to see what we get from [the contest]. We’re hopeful to connect everyone in the diocese and to bring the youth into it,” she said.

WHAT: Poster contest

DEADLINE: Feb. 20

OPEN TO: High school students

PRIZES: $100 grand prize, $75 second place, $50 third place

CONTEST CRITERIA: All media (painting, drawing, photography, computer graphic) will be accepted. The winning entry will communicate how individual Catholics can join together to fulfill the Gospel call to serve the least among them in parishes, the state, the nation and the world. Entries will be graded on creativity and the ability to communicate the desired message.

Submit electronic entries to Jean Hill at jean.hill@dioslc.org, or mail to Diocese of Salt Lake City, Attn: Jean Hill, 27 C St., Salt Lake City, UT 84103. For information, contact Hill at 801-328-8641 ext. 336.