KidSpirit, the only youth-led platform for building community through life’s big questions, is proud to announce it has won a 2025 Award of Excellence from the Religion Communicators Council. The Best of KidSpirit, Volume X, which was honored in the Books category, is a compendium of the most insightful and inspiring writing, poetry, and artwork published by 11- to 17-year-olds last year in KidSpirit’s online magazine.
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.
Each year, youth editors around the world select work that most exemplifies KidSpirit’s mission. The winning articles, poetry, and artwork, along with other notable pieces, are published in a print volume, The Best of KidSpirit. Volume X of The Best of KidSpirit includes content from four issues of the online magazine, each exploring a youth-chosen theme: Violence and Healing, Courage, Now & Then, and Finding Meaning. Writers and artists included in the volume hail from across the United States, as well as China, Ukraine, India, Haiti, Pakistan, Paraguay, Liberia, Australia, Jordan, Taiwan, Spain, and the UK.
KidSpirit also includes one column, called PerSpectives, featuring wisdom on each theme from an adult expert in the field. The Best of KidSpirit, Volume X, contains pieces by Nicole Hockley and Pardeep Kaleka, Michelle Kuo, Phil Cousineau, and Kaitlin Curtice.
This recognition is KidSpirit’s seventh 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 were 10 Years of KidSpirit in 2017 and 15 Years of KidSpirit in 2024. 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
(718) 878-3900
[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 RNS or Religion News Foundation.