Congratulations to the winners of the inaugural New York DeMolay Jurisdictional Essay Contest:
First place:
Br. Michael Jordan of Ridge Council
Sister Pearl Draves of Meridian Sun Chapter
Second place:
Br. RJ Larson of Richmond Chapter
Third Place:
Br. Brian Ramos of Knickerbocker Chapter
Br. Austin Altman of Knickerbocker Chapter
Each winner will receive a cash award made possible by the Ancient Temple Chapter #5 Royal Arch Masons and Bloss-DeWitt Clinton Council # 14, Royal and Select Masters both of Albany.
The contest was done in conjunction with DeMolay International’s Kach Essay Contest. The International Essay Contest was established in 1983 by Paul Kach to foster critical thinking and writing skills, the contest awards 12 regional prizes, and two international prizes. This year’s topic: “If you could add a preceptor to DeMolay, what value would you add? “ The existing preceptors include love of family, reverence for sacred things, courtesy, comradeship, fidelity, cleanness and patriotism.
Essays were submitted jointly to New York and DeMolay International. The New York entries were judged in a blind independent review process by an external panel looking at the technical strength of the entry and the content.