The Royal Canadian Legion Branch #104 recently launched the school-wide Remembrance Day Annual Literary and Poster Contest.
Participating students can win an award and cash prize for designing projects that explain what Remembrance Day means to them and winners have the opportunity to compete nationally.
“We give the information to the schools and the teachers have students participate in a poem, an essay or making a black and white, or coloured, poster,” said Heather Taylor, event organizer at the legion. “And then, all of the entries have to be in by December 1 and at that time I get a panel of judges together to judge the ones that came into our branch.”
The Annual Literary and Poster Contest is open to all Canadian schoolchildren. Competitors in the contest, she added, help the legion foster the tradition of Remembrance Day among Canadians.
“I take packages to Spruce View and four Innisfail schools,” she said. “And that's all been done.”
The contest is divided into four categories: primary (grades 1-3), junior (grades 4-6), intermediate (grades 7-9) and senior (grades 10-12) for judging.
“And we forward winners to the area level,” said Taylor. “It's a good potential for the kids to earn some pretty decent money.”
According to Taylor and officials at the legion, initial judging takes place at the community level by volunteers at local branches of the legion, and the winning entries progress to judging at the provincial level. Winning entries at this level are forwarded to Ottawa, where they are judged and the national winners are declared.
“Hopefully it teaches the (students) about Remembrance Day,” said Taylor. “Hopefully the teachers would obviously have classes around Remembrance Day, and what that was about, and that's what they're supposed to depict in their entries — and what it means to them.”
For more information, call Taylor at 403-506-8044 or the legion at 403-227-3622.
