Detroit — Three young Catholics will be recognized as winners of this year’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Poster and Essay Contest, sponsored by the Knights of Peter Claver, a black Catholic men’s fraternity.

Rosie DeSantis, a member of Sacred Heart Parish, Detroit, and a student at the Roeper School, is essay contest winner at the high school level, for which she will receive an Apple iPad.



As essay contest winner at the middle school level, Taylor Jones, a member of Gesu Parish who attends the parish school, will receive $300.

Winner of the poster contest for elementary school students, Ghable Bell, a member of Sacred Heart Parish and student at Detroit’s Chrysler Elementary, will receive $200.



The winners will receive their rewards at the Monday, Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Day Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit

The theme of the 10 a.m. Mass, “Join Together in a Community of Love,” will be highlighted by a new song by Keir Ward, music director of St. Leo Parish in Detroit.

Fr. Daniel Trapp, pastor of St. Augustine and St. Monica Parish, Detroit, will be celebrant, and music will be provided by the recently formed Black Catholic Ministries Gospel Choir.

John J.F. Thorne, director of Black Catholic Ministries for the archdiocese, said the contest and annual Mass make for an important witness “that Dr. King’s dream is not a dead dream, but a living dream that is continuously calling to everyone in the world.”