Columban schools competition – young people identify heroes who inspire them

Reading through the entries in this year’s Columban schools competition, Anyone can make a difference: 21st Century Changemakers, I found it life-affirming that young people in our Catholic schools in Britain and Ireland identified so many heroes who stand out for their mission to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. The theme was based on a quote from young climate campaigner Greta Thunberg who has said: “No one is too small to make a difference.” 

The fifth annual competition, covering Britain and Ireland, with two strands of articles and images, attracted 260 entries from nearly 50 schools. They were judged by panels of media experts separately in Britain and Ireland, one of whom was Ruth Gledhill of The Tablet. 

We learnt that young people admire those who have compassion for the wellbeing of others, have a strong moral compass and live their values. They are courageous in their service to others in need, whether that is a person, group, or community, or in advocacy and defence of certain ideals. Usually, they act knowing there is a personal risk and without expectation of reward. Most subjects of winning entries were guided by their faith and many by Catholic Social Teaching, which underlines the dignity of all. Teachers are clearly doing a great job in forming young people with a sensitivity and passion about care for people and planet.  

In Britain, Elijah Gilbert of Richard Challoner School, New Malden won first prize in the images section for his collage, The Shatter of Inspiration. He produced a shattered glass with illustrations of influential people in each shard. Elijah said: “The people in the larger shards have done an outstanding amount of things that one can be inspired by.”

These included Pope Francis, Malala Yousafzai and Vanessa Nakate in the bigger shards and Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in smaller ones. Wealth and power give influence but the greatest influencers, in Elijah’s view, promote values of love of neighbour, kindness, generosity and hope. Daisy Srblin of Million Minutes said: “I love the thinking behind this image, reminiscent of stained glass in a Church, but featuring contemporary figures.” Gledhill described it as “a truly powerful and original image, with recognisable and diverse changemakers”. 

Second place went to Katherine Fawole of St Paul’s Academy in London for her Gouache painting of climate change activist Greta Thunberg, along with one of Thunberg’s most powerful quotations: “No one is too small to make a difference.” Oliver Lafite of Richard Challoner School and Paulette De Jose of Holy Cross School in New Malden came joint third. Oliver drew footballer Marcus Rashford as Superman, saying: “This is a man that has a lot of money and instead of being rich he wanted to help others in need.” Rashford became a food superhero during the pandemic when he initiated a food campaign and twice tackled Prime Minister Boris Johnson on child hunger and won. Paulette’s collage included Pope Francis who clearly inspires, teaches and acts in a way that young people respect. 

In Britain, the winning article, The Sisterhood of Intersectionality, focused on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Writer Jessica Saxon from St George’s College in Weybridge said the US Congresswoman “encourages others to speak out against their injustices, in a special language that tells women that their stories are worth telling”. She added that “she brings awareness to a multitude of socio-economic issues and proves that women do have something to say and that they can say it”.  She paid tribute to her RE teacher, Mr McAndrew, who encouraged her to enter the competition.

Another big name highlighted was Sir David Attenborough. Ella Bothwell of St Richard Gwyn School in Flint, combined a profile of the environmentalist with references to Catholic Social Teaching, specifically Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti. She said: “Attenborough is invested in the survival of all life on Earth as he tells us that if humanity wants to survive then we have to learn to work with nature, not against it.”  Ella said that this is a prophetic message for our times.

Many young people spotlighted people who are not famous. Mahi Sikand of Thomas More School in Bedford looked at Basira Popul, an Afghani women dedicated to primary healthcare in difficult circumstances in her country. He admired her kindness in distributing bars of soap during the pandemic to improve hygiene. “The Church and the Bible are always telling us we should try to be the best version of ourselves and always do the best that we can do for our community.” He said: “if Basira, in such a remote part of the world can bring about such a great change with a small act, then we as children of God, who are in privileged positions, must focus on the small acts, then for someone else these could have a lasting change.” 

Scarlett Peart-Lapidge of Bishop Thomas Grant in London focused on Margaret Mizen and her entry was described by one judge as “a powerful account, with first hand reflections on the ways in which the Mizen family, specifically Margaret Mizen, turned their grief over the murder of their son in 2008 into something powerful and hopeful, and created real change as a result”. On the tenth anniversary of Jimmy’s death Margaret created a campaign to stop knife crime, an initiative greatly admired by Scarlett.

In Ireland, Eimear Crawford of St Louis Grammar School, Ballymena wrote the winning article about Fr Alec Reid, who was pivotal to the peace process in Northern Ireland. William Scholes, features editor of the Irish News, described the article as “a welcome assessment of a towering figure who was not only a true changemaker but also a peacemaker”. He added: “It’s encouraging that a new generation is aware of his contribution to the peace process, and that they might be inspired by his example to build the peace in the future.” 

Blaithin McElligott of Presentation secondary school Castleisland, Co Kerry won first prize in the images section. Her artwork, highlighting the cost of fast fashion, ended on a positive note with the school’s Clothes Pod. It showed that we can all make a real difference and be changemakers, wherever we are.  

I must highlight the submissions from a Catholic school in Yorkshire, which serves many low-income families. None of the young people won, but all were intensely moving, celebrating those closest to them. Single parents – usually mothers – were thanked for managing to put food on the table during the pandemic when money was short. There were wonderful tributes to teachers who “are very important in your future and day to day life” and NHS workers for “everyday lives get saved because of them, they are superheroes and they make a massive difference in the community”. Then there was a local man who ran an allotment and “encouraged families to have a nutritious diet by inviting them to take from his allotment garden free of charge”. The writer said: “I personally believe he should be highlighted for his dedicated, caring and enthusiastic work which has been carried out for several years, although no one noticed.”

Several young people quoted from James 2 that “faith without good works is dead”. In fact, as one winner said it is seeing action for the common good “that inspires me to bring about positive change myself”. 

The competition brought out the power of story. The ability to learn from powerful stories is a skill that will help young people with choices throughout their lives and guide their futures. It seems to me the young people chose worthy role models as their changemakers, which gives hope that they themselves will be altruistic, shun injustice and violence in its various forms, and be sensitive to the whole earth community. 

Well done to these young people, to the judges who studied their entries so carefully, and to the Columbans for providing this annual opportunity to encourage pupils of our Catholic schools to shine.

Full list of winners and links to winning articles and images at http://www.columbancompetition.com/