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Dear Judge,
We encourage you to seek personal support if you become troubled by the content of this category. If you experience an emotional crisis, please call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (available 24/7) or the California Warm Line at (833) 845-7415 .
The entries you are judging are submissions in the Hope and Justice category. Entries in this category deal with a variety of topics including mental health, suicide prevention, social justice and other complex topics that need to be addressed with compassion and knowledge.
For this category we asked youth to communicate about what they are feeling, increase knowledge about an issue or take a stand against injustice, or share their perspective in a way that gives others a glimpse into their lives. While some youth submit entries share ideas for solutions to the issues of concern, others used this as an opportunity to process their feelings in a therapeutic way.
We welcome all types of submissions. In our submission criteria, we remind youth that whatever message they choose, their submissions need to be thoughtful and respectful. We asked youth to be honest about their feelings, but to be sure their entries convey that they are coming from a place of cultural humility and have the intent to further understanding and constructive dialogue about social justice and change. So, as a judge please score each of these entries based on how well they conveyed their messages and followed these guidelines.
At any point if you are experiencing technical difficulties with the website, or have questions regarding the category, please email shanti@youthcreatingchange.org or call (619) 786-5622.
In advance, we appreciate your time.
This entry is a poetic autobiography called “I Was, I Am, I Will,” which I wrote and hand drew myself. The whole book is a quick reflection of my life, including my childhood, my experiences, my thoughts, my feelings, my goals, and my dreams. The cover and interior pages are filled with hand drawn lettering and artwork that represent where I come from and what I have been through. Inside, I broke my story into three parts, who I was, who I am, and who I will be, writing honestly about growing up, the mistakes I made, and the environment that shaped me. I also wrote about staying strong in my faith and believing that God got me through it. In the “I Will” section I wrote about the man I am working to become, someone who helps his community, stays disciplined, and inspires the youth who face the same struggles I did. I hope that when people read this book they can find themselves in the words, and see that no matter what has happened, people can change.
