High school students with a passion for Canadian history now have the opportunity to create a project and potentially win prizes for their work.
Heritage Saskatchewan, which oversees the provincial elementary Heritage Fair program, is launching an all-new High School Heritage Challenge this fall. Students in grades 9 to 12 throughout Saskatchewan are invited to create a project on a Canada-related topic for this virtual contest.
The challenge for students is to think critically and broadly about how their topic relates to several key themes, the organization explained. Those themes include well-being, reconciliation, environmental sustainability, justice, and living heritage.
Heritage Saskatchewan will accept projects in various formats, including videos, websites, research papers, interviews, games, photo essays, artwork or creative writing. Students can submit their projects — sources must be cited regardless of category, while written projects should be between 1,000 to 2,500 words — via the organization’s website. Those projects will be displayed on the virtual project gallery so everyone can learn from and enjoy them.
The heritage organization will accept projects in any language to enable youths from different backgrounds to “exercise their culture,” the organization said. For non-English projects, students are encouraged to include an English translation of the title and a one-sentence description of the topic. This will help Heritage Saskatchewan staff promote the project. Projects can also be bilingual or multilingual.
Each video or audio file must be no longer than 15 minutes. Meanwhile, since these projects are non-interactive, judges will not be able to ask questions and students will not be able to clarify or elaborate further once their project is submitted. That is why Heritage Saskatchewan encourages students to make their projects as clear as possible.
Prizes will include two $1,000 education bursaries, while additional prizes will be determined.
Students have until Tuesday, Oct. 12, to submit their projects, while Heritage Saskatchewan will announce the winners on Wednesday, Oct. 27.
“Heritage is a valued and dynamic legacy that contributes to our sense of identity, creates a sense of understanding of our past, is used to build communities in the present, and informs our choices for the future,” said Heritage Saskatchewan. “Heritage affects virtually every aspect of our lives. Pick a topic that matters to you — something you’d like to explore on a deeper level.”
Student winners will be invited to attend a virtual Heritage Youth Symposium in November.
For more information, visit https://heritagesask.ca.
