"My Future is Bright" Contest Winners

by Sheila South

A The Kids & Me Contributor

The summer of 2026 The Kids & Me hosted a writing contest for children rising grades 4-12 of our Single Mom families called “My Future is Bright.”  

At the Bounce Back-to-School with The Kids & Me event on Aug. 8, we celebrated our eight entrants and their hard work by awarding cash prizes and sharing “Five Life Lessons from a Writing Contest”—words of encouragement they can carry with them into the new school year.

Five Life Lessons from a Writing Contest

1) Participate.  

Show up. Take part. If the teacher asks a question and you know the answer, raise your hand.  Your attendance with mind and body builds your success.  The students who took time out of their summer vacation to think about what they would like to see in their future are already pushing towards that future.  They practiced their writing skills and furthered their abilities to communicate with others.  They participated and will reap the benefits.

2) Do your best.

As evidenced by the quality of their work, all of these students worked hard to complete their entries. Some of them even participated in a feedback session, edited their work, and resubmitted their entries.  

3) Measure rightly.

Let’s let everyone in on a BIG SECRET about how this contest was judged…  

There was no 1st place, 2nd place, or 3rd place in this contest. 

The students’ entries were not judged against one another.

Each entry was judged against the writing standards for its own division. 

So, every student who entered was awarded a cash prize dependent on how closely s/he met the requirements for his division.

Did you know that the kingdom of God works this way, too?

We are not judged by how much better we are than the guy on the left or how much worse we are then the girl on the right.  

We are judged against GOD’s STANDARD

and that standard is

holiness,

perfection,

no mistakes,

no bad choices,

and no sin. 

That is a scary thought because …who can be perfect?

Permit me to share a story...

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Once there was a king who was known by everyone in the kingdom to be the most just and loving king who had ever lived.  Because he was just, he was always honorable and righteous in all of his thoughts and all of his actions. Because he was loving, he always acted in a kind and caring way towards others.

One day it was discovered that someone was stealing from the king's treasury. And so the king being a just king sent out an edict that whenever it was discovered who was stealing from the king's treasury that that person would receive 10 lashes. Well, the theft continued and so he issued another decree: When it's discovered who's stealing from the king's treasury, it'll be 20 lashes. The theft continued, “30 lashes” until the king issued a final decree: “When it's discovered who's stealing from the king's treasury, it will be a sentence of 40 lashes.”  Forty lashes was known to be a death sentence. 

The theft continued until eventually the soldiers found that none other than the king's daughter was the one who was stealing from the treasury. So then a question began to ripple through the kingdom. Some thought the king would simply forgive her because he was loving- but then how would he be just? Some thought that the king would carry out the sentence because he was just, but then how would he be loving? 

The king decided the sentence was just and the punishment must fall and so the decree would stand. The next day, the entire kingdom was gathered as the king's own daughter was marched up to the platform. She was secured to a post and the soldier raised his whip to land the first lash. The king yelled, “Stop!”  And there was a silence that fell as the king came forward.  Up the platform he stepped, then he stooped, and then he wrapped his own body around his daughter’s.

He looked up over his shoulder and said to the soldier, “Now execute the sentence”. The soldier objected and said, “King, the lashes will fall on you”. The King replied, “The sentence must stand. You must execute the lashes.” And so 40 lashes fell on the body of the king that protected the body of his daughter and the king died in place of his daughter.

In that story, the king was both JUST because payment for the sin had to be made and the king was the JUSTIFIER of the ungodly. His daughter went free because the King took the penalty. 

This is how the Bible explains God to us.  God is just;  He always makes morally right choices.  Think of a courtroom.  Imagine a criminal kidnapped a child and beat him up and then the criminal was caught and taken to a judge. Then the judge said, “You look nice, you’re forgiven,” and the judge didn’t punish the criminal.  No one would say that was a just judge.  Because God is just, He must punish sin.

And yet God is loving; He cares for us, He carries our burdens, and is kind and merciful to us.   Because the penalty for sin had to be paid, God made the payment Himself.  The Bible tells us Jesus -who led a perfect life with no sin- took our punishment, died on a cross for us, was buried, and rose again.  All we have to do to receive God’s forgiveness is believe that Jesus paid the penalty for us:  “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

That’s good news!  There is no need to be scared that we aren’t perfect.  There is no need to be separated from God by our sin.  Our sin can be removed, we can be forgiven, and our relationship with God can be restored.  The just and loving King has paid the price for us.

[Shared from Pastor Josh Howerton:  Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?]

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4) Be thankful.

Nothing is free.  Everything costs somebody something.  Somebody worked for it and then chose to give it.  The prize money given to you was given by donors from the community who believe in you and have great hopes for your bright future.  So always remember to say “thank you”.  

5) Meet the deadline.  

Everyone who submitted an entry to the writing contest had to meet the deadline.  There will always be deadlines.  We can stress ourselves out by delaying and procrastinating and then at the last moment complete the task. Or we can be proactive and take care of our tasks in a timely manner and skip the stress of waiting until the last minute.

LIFE APPLICATION

When we take these 5 lessons learned from the writing contest and apply them to our lives, we see that…

We can choose to PARTICIPATE.  Accept the free gift God offers us of salvation and restoration and eternal life with Him.

We can DO OUR BEST to live our lives in a way that pleases God; we can seek out help from the Bible, from our parents, from our teachers, from our pastors to understand God’s standard.  The Bible tells us “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”  Colossians 3:23-24 

We can MEASURE ourselves RIGHTLY against God’s standard, not against people around us.

We can BE THANKFUL for the gift that God has given us of forgiveness and remember the gift that is free to us cost Jesus everything.

We can make these choices right now- there is a deadline. The Bible tells us to choose this day whom we will serve.  Joshua 24:15 

Everyone in the audience then enjoyed hearing Sam, Ethan, Kamiya, and Pharaoh share their writings aloud.

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Division I (rising grades 4-6)

Davin H., Kamiya C., Pharaoh B., Sam A.,

Division 2 (rising grades 7-9)

Ethan F., Kaydence F., Zachaios B.

Division 3 (grades 10-12)

Keniya C.