Vietnamese Immigrant and Spokane Eighth Grade Student Wins Grand Prize In 2011 CCHD Multi-Media Art Context

WASHINGTON—An eighth grade student at St. Aloysius School in Spokane, Washington won the grand prize in the 2011 Multi-Media Art Contest sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Dong Phung, a Vietnamese immigrant, won with the illustration “Reflections of Jesus,” which uses scenes adapted from the life of Jesus to convey the role of youth in the Church’s anti-poverty mission.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

Phung will receive a $500 cash award and a $500 gift to be designated in his name to a CCHD-funded group of his choice. He will receive this prize on the main stage of the National Catholic Youth Conference in November, where over 20,000 youth will be in attendance.

Phung’s illustration depicts Jesus teaching children; young people helping Jesus carry his cross; children sharing loaves and fishes; and two youths rescuing a sheep. The image portrays the role of young people in working to address poverty.With a “spirit of solidarity and voluntarism,” Phung said, “all of us have to unite and support one another in order to advance a better future, a better society.”

The runners up were Kara Hoffman, grade 7, St. Stephen Catholic School in Riverview, Florida (second prize, grades 7-9); Julianne Poisy, grade 12, St. Peter-Marian Junior-Senior High School in Worcester, Massachusetts (second prize, grades 10-12); Revers P. Bruscoe, grade 8, St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam, New York (third prize, grades 7-9); Joe Garrett, grade 12, Father Ryan High School in Nashville, Tennessee (third prize, grades 10-12). Honorable mention went to Elyse Sheppard, Kyle Benkel, Jordan Downs, Sam Driscoll, Isabel Vasquez, Emily Dormady, Evan Anderson, Linsday Staudt and Nicole Breske, grade 7, St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Winter Park, Florida; and to Patrick Verbryke, Grace Fermann, Kelsey Dollenmayer, Sarah Scoville, and Daniel Timko, grade 8, St. Mary Church in Cincinnati.

CCHD developed the Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest in 2001 to help schools and parishes engage youth in learning about poverty and the role of the Church in helping low-income people in the U.S. to address its causes. The contest is open to students in grades 7-12 in Catholic parishes and schools and all art forms are welcome. Materials for the 2011-2012 contest are available at www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/2011-12-multi-media-youth-arts-contest.cfm. Interested schools, parishes, and dioceses can also sign up there to participate in a September 12, 2011 webinar, “Introduction to the Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest.”

CCHD is the domestic anti-poverty and social justice program of the Catholic bishops in the United States. With the support of Catholic parishioners, it has provided grants to more than 4,000 community and economic development projects over the past 40 years. The annual CCHD collection is taken up in most Catholic parishes in the United States on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

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Keywords: Catholic Campaign for Human Development, CCHD, Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest, youth, Reflections of Jesus, Dong Phung, anti-poverty