family prayer | Catholic Schools Week | Try Prayer! It Works! | Catholic Family Fun
Family Rosary announces theme for 2025-26: Try Prayer! Contest for students in Catholic schools. Find out how to share contest info with your local Catholic school!
Inspired by the founder of Family Rosary, Venerable Patrick Peyton, the Try Prayer! It Works! Contest focuses on Father Peyton’s message: “The Family that Prays Together Stays Together.” In an effort to find enriching, reflective, and interactive ways to strengthen family prayer in our homes, we’ve created a family-faith experience.
Our mission at Family Rosary is to help families pray, especially the Rosary. We strive to bring the Catholic Church’s teachings to life around the dinner table, during family time, or even on your daily commute, with discussion prompts, reflection questions, prayer ideas, and creative activities. Help children of all ages tell the story of family prayer in writing, artwork, or video production.
The Try Prayer! Contest is Open to All Catholic Schools
While this contest has been part of the ministry for many years, the team has redesigned it — eager now to find Catholic schools interested in participating. Try Prayer! is not currently open to individual entries; we hope to roll that phase out in the coming year! However, do you have a child, niece, nephew, grandchild, or godchild in a Catholic school? Help us bring this fun, faith-filled family activity and student creative contest to their school!
The theme of our 2026 contest is "Prayer: Encountering Jesus, the True Hope," which builds upon the late Pope Francis' call for hope during this Jubilee Year of Hope. The contest runs from now until May 31, 2026, with cash prizes awarded to the first, second, and third-place winners in each category and grade level. Schools with first-place winners also receive a small award.
Parents — we would love to have your child’s Catholic school participate. Catholic School Teachers and Administrators — we'd love for your school to seize this unique opportunity for families to try prayer and inspire creativity in their homes! Categories for submission for all age categories are prose (essay and poetry) and art. For high school students only, a short-form video contest is available.
Learn How Your Catholic School Can Participate
Family Rosary will provide all the promotional materials; we’ve made it as simple for a school to facilitate as possible! We encourage you to share this with your child’s teacher or school administrator! For more information and contest specifics, visit FamilyRosary.org/TryPrayer or contact Craig Dyke, Director of Family Rosary, at ctdyke@hcfm.org.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in spreading the word!
