St. Carlo Acutis contest winners announced

Friday, Oct. 17, 2025

LAYTON — The winners of the essays and drawings categories for the Saint Carlo Acutis contest were recognized on Oct. 12, the patron saints feast day.

The contest was an initiative of the diocese’s Saint Carlo Acutis Apostolate and organized by Karina Mendoza, director of St. Rose of Lima Parish’s Christian Formation. It invited all school-aged children to participate in an art contest, which was for youth from kindergarten to sixth grade; and an essay contest, for youth in grades seven to 12. Each contest accepted entries in English and in Spanish. All the entries were to honor the newly canonized saint, who died at the age of 15 and was known for his devotion to the Eucharist.

The response to the contest from Catholic youth within the diocese was astonishing, said Father Gustavo Vidal, director of the Saint Carlo Acutis Apostolate and pastor of Saint Rose of Lima Parish.

“This was something we really thought of last minute, and we never thought that this was going to have such a good response,” he said. “What we were looking for is that our youth not only wrote the biography of Saint Carlo Acutis, we wanted them to think and reflect on how he affects their lives and how they can learn from this young saint.” 

Most of all, they expected that the youth who participated in the contest could “put those teachings into practice in their lives in their communities,” he added.

First-place winners for the essay contest were Angelina Guitierrez and Diego Aldrete. Second place went to Matthew Alvarez and Brittany Mendoza.

Taking first place in the art contest were Isabella Perez and Sofia Hernandez; second-place winners were Alice Garcia and Alan Nuñez. 

First-place winners received $100; the prize for second place was $50. The winners were recognized during the Oct. 12 Sunday Masses at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Layton.

The essays were very well written, and as Fr. Vidal read them he felt excited to see how St. Carlo Acutis has already touched the lives of these young people, he said.

“One of the participants at the end gives thanks for the opportunity to participate in this, and she also stated that when she was looking at Saint Carlo’s life she started crying,” Fr. Vidal said, referring to the first-place essay in English.

Part of Guitierrez’ essay reads: “A long-lasting impact that Carlo Acutis has had on me is helping people. Before finding out about Carlo Acutis I wasn’t willing to help people, but after watching a video of him in Confirmation 1 I started to love people. I started helping my mom in the house and if any old man was trying to put groceries in their car I would help them without thought. … Recently I finally decided I want to be a children’s doctor, Obviously I don’t know if it will come true, but like Carlo said, ‘The only thing that I know I will be when I grow up is closer to God.”

After reading Guitierrez’s essay, Fr. Vidal said, “This was so impactful in her” and that was “what we wanted. We want to teach our youth the path to sainthood; we want them to know they have options in their lives ... that the drugs, alcohol, phone addiction, all the problems and hard situations that they live in their lives are not the only choice. They have God opening his arms to them. We want them to learn that Jesus Christ is an option, is their option.”

That idea was reflected in Mendoza’s essay. She wrote that “learning about Saint Carlo Acutis has opened more my heart and mind to my own faith. He has shown me I can be an average normal teen, loving technology like gaming and still carry the love for my faith. … He has influenced me to share the love and words of God with others. He has help me to walk proud with God and the Eucharist by my side.”

Mendoza also wrote how the words of Saint Carlo Acutis have motivated her to be a better Catholic.

“One day I was walking around and heard some people talking about Saint Carlo Acutis,” she wrote. “They said a quote of Saint Carlo: ‘All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.’ This made me realize that I have changed myself from what God made me. Ever since I have aspired to be what God wants me to be, which can be hard in today’s world. Though I’d rather be my original self that God made me to be rather than a photocopy made by this world.”

The winning drawings also included quotes from the saint, such as “The Eucharist is the road to heaven,” and “Carlo Acutis loves God forever!”

All the participants received a certificate of participation as well as some special prayer cards designed and printed by the parish, rosaries and bracelets.

Carlo Acutis is a very important saint in my life like Saint Maria Goretti and Saint Jose Sanchez del Rio. But Carlo Acutis has the biggest impact on me because he lived in our generation and knows how it is. The biggest reason he inspires me is because he took the most important thing for us teenagers now and turned it into something divine. Carlo Acutis used his talent for technology and mixed it with his love for God. So, we can learn about what the Eucharist can do and the blessings it brings us. Nowadays all we use is technology, we don’t read books or go to the library. It is all in our hands but instead of giving some time to learn about Jesus or read the Bible we waste our lives on screens living someone else’s life. Carlos created something that instead of scrolling on our phone we can dedicate more time for Christ and still be on it.

Another way that Saint Carlo Acutis has inspired me is to live my life to the fullest because you never know what’s ahead of you. He was inspired by the quote “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Carlo lived his life to the very fullest because he was close to God. This also inspired me to start being closer to God by praying every night and reading the Bible.

A long-lasting impact that Carlo Acutis has had on me is helping people. Before finding out about Carlo Acutis I wasn’t willing to help people. But after watching a video about him in Confirmation 1 I started to love people. I started to help my mom in the house and if any old man was trying to put groceries in their car I would do it without thought. I also started helping my Tia at her school to clean or sort, grade or separate homework. Recently I finally decided that I wanted to be a children’s doctor when I grow up. Obviously I don’t know if it will come true but like Carlo said, the only thing I know I will be when I grow up is closer to God.

I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this assignment. While I was researching his life it touched my heart. There were a lot of times that I started to cry because of the way he put things. Thank you.