Young people around the world recognized for outstanding content
KidSpirit, the only youth-led platform for building community through life’s big questions, is proud to announce it has won an 2024 Award of Excellence from the Religion Communicators Council. 15 Years of KidSpirit, which was honored in the Non-Fiction Books category, is a compendium of the most insightful and inspiring writing, poetry, and artwork published by 11- to 17-year-olds during KidSpirit’s first 15 years in print.
Led by a global network of young editors, KidSpirit is a unique forum for kids of all backgrounds and traditions to explore questions of meaning in an open and inclusive spirit. Since its founding in 2008, hundreds of teenagers from 37 countries and 33 US states have published expository essays, poetry, artwork, and video on a wide range of philosophical, ethical, and spiritual topics. 15 Years of KidSpirit represents a cross-section of their incredible work. The 250-page volume begins with 32 award-winning pieces from the 2022 KidSpirit Awards, which were selected by youth editors around the world. The book also showcases award-winning content from the previous four years, followed by a sampling of content published in KidSpirit’s first decade. Readers will discover global voices on over thirty youth-chosen themes. Writers and artists included in the volume hail from across the United States, as well as Australia, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, China, Haiti, Ukraine, Paraguay and elsewhere.
In addition to youth-created content, 15 Years of KidSpirit contains award-winning pieces by adult experts who share their wisdom in a column called PerSpectives. Contributors include Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, best-selling author and Buddhist meditation teacher Lama Surya Das, psychologist and anxiety expert Jennifer Shannon, and computational neuroscientist Dr. Anil Seth.
This recognition of 15 Years of KidSpirit is KidSpirit’s sixth award from the RCC. In 2012, 2015, and 2020, Volumes I, III, and VI of the Best of KidSpirit were recognized in the Youth Books category, as was 10 Years of KidSpirit in 2017. KidSpirit’s Interfaith Connections column was honored in 2014.
The Wilbur Awards are given annually by the Religion Communicators Council (RCC) to recognize outstanding work in the communication of religious issues, values, and themes in media in the fields of print and online journalism, book publishing, television, and film. The Award of Excellence is for entries deemed to be of excellent quality and unquestionably worthy of recognition. The RCC, founded in 1929, is an association of communications professionals who work for and with a diverse group of faith-based organizations in the areas of communications, public relations, advertising, and development. It is the oldest public relations professional organization in the United States.
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Contact:
Elizabeth Dabney Hochman
KidSpirit
7188783900
[email protected]
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Religion News Service or Religion News Foundation.
