More than 500 high school and college students from around the country are expected to attend Georgetown University’s eighth annual Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life, which will take place Jan. 20- 21, 2007 and will feature pro-life heavy hitters Helen Alvaré and Carl A. Anderson.

The event gathers young people in advance of the annual March for Life demonstration on the National Mall each January. This year’s conference is expected to be the largest in its history.

The main speakers include Helen Alvaré, Esq., associate professor at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, and Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.

Alvaré is the former director of information and planning for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Pro-Life Activities. Anderson Special Assistant to the President and acting director of the White House Office of Public Liaison during the Reagan Administration. He also served as a visiting professor of family law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

The conference is named in honor of Cardinal John O'Connor, the late archbishop of New York and outspoken advocate of the unborn.

The second annual Evangelium Vitae Award will be presented to a college pro-life group for excellence in activities and pregnancy services. The award comes with a $1,000 honorarium to aid the group in future projects.