The Associates of St. John Bosco is pleased to announce the National RISE (Renewal through Innovative Student Evangelization) Awards, an exciting initiative to foster innovation, reward creativity, and evangelize college campuses in the United States.

ASJB will award up to a total of $50,000 to Catholic Campus Ministries that plan and execute the most creative evangelization and outreach initiatives in order to reach Catholic college students and people of faith on their respective campuses.

The RISE Awards application is now open for the 2027-2028 academic year.

Note: The application will require login from a Gmail account.

About the RISE Awards

The RISE Awards are a bold initiative of the Associates of St. John Bosco, created to spark new and innovative evangelization efforts on college campuses nationwide. Many Catholic Campus Ministries (CCMs) have the passion and vision to reach students in creative ways, but often lack the resources to bring those ideas to life.

Through the RISE Awards, the Associates of St. John Bosco provides funding to campus ministries ready to think big, experiment, and reimagine how to share the Catholic faith with the next generation of college students. Our goal is simple: empower ministries to rise to the challenge of evangelization and ignite the Faith in college students, one soul at a time.

2026 RISE Award Recipient, University of Pittsburgh

Hannah Naylor, University of Pittsburgh Campus Minister:
“We are honored to receive the ASJB RISE Award and grateful for the challenge to create new and innovative opportunities for evangelization. That challenge inspired the idea for Catholic Carnival, and we are excited to bring it to life through this award and meet freshmen at the heart of campus.”

Application Guidelines

CCMs at colleges and universities in the United States are invited to apply for an award to help fund the execution of their most creative evangelization project during the 2027-2028 academic year to reach one of the following groups:

  • Freshmen

  • Fallen-away Catholics

  • The “Nones” (unaffiliated or disaffiliated people of faith)

  • Athletes

  • Other

Each CCM may only submit one application. Submissions will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Excellent submissions may result in the request for additional information or an interview. ASJB reserves the right to award more or less than the amount requested or reject applications that are not consistent with the goals of this initiative. All complete submissions will receive a response on or about March 5, 2027.

Finalists for the RISE Awards will be invited to present their projects at a live in-person pitch competition, called The Forge: Where Catholic ideas are tried, tested and rise to the top. This gives CCMs the ability to refine and present a pitch to a panel of judges, who are skilled in evangelization, campus ministry, business, and marketing.

RISE Award recipients will be asked to submit 1) a full project plan, 2) a comprehensive budget, and 3) a 5-10 minute video, which will be shared on the ASJB site to inspire other Catholic Campus Ministries to carry out these projects on their own campuses! By submitting an application, you agree to grant ASJB and others the use of your ideas under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

2026 RISE Awards finalists presenting at The Forge

Application Timeline

  1. Submit an Application with your Idea and Budget by the January 15, 2027 deadline.

  2. CCMs that advance to Round 2 will be notified by March 5, 2027 to submit their full Project Plan and detailed Budget by March 31, 2027.

  3. The top five CCM Finalists will be notified in early April and must send at least one (and up to two) representative(s) to Northern Virginia for a live in-person pitch competition, called The Forge, where they will present their projects to a panel of judges. This event will be held on June 17, 2027. ASJB will cover approved travel expenses (ex: airfare, hotel, local travel, etc.).

  4. RISE Awardees will be announced later in the summer. Within three months of carrying out the winning project, RISE Awardees must provide a revised Final Project Plan and Video Summary.

Note: All due dates are 11:59 PM ET.

Note: The application will require login from a Gmail account.

2025 RISE Recipient, Catholic University of America

Julie Cilano, The Catholic University:
Receiving this RISE Award is a profound encouragement to our ministry at The Catholic University of America. The RISE Awards are helping campus ministries like ours step more confidently into their mission of meeting students where they are and inviting them into a real relationship with Jesus.

FAQs

Check out our frequently asked questions below to have your questions answered! You may also join one of our Zoom info calls. Register here.