The Canadian War Museum History Awards

The Canadian War Museum is dedicated to the study of Canadian military history and the effects of war upon Canada and its people. The Museum also recognizes the need to assist students who plan to continue their studies in the field of history. The Canadian War Museum History Awards have been instituted to support and encourage these students.

Download the application form (pdf)

Value of the Awards

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The total value of the Awards consists of five prizes of $1000 each, to be distributed to five winning students.

Criteria for admission

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Application for the Canadian War Museum History Awards is open to all senior students who plan on graduating from secondary school in the spring of 2006. To qualify, each student must submit an original work using one of the following media:

• Text
• Visual Art
• Web Design
• Audio or Video Production

In addition, each student must include a completed application form (attached).

Please do NOT include extra material such as transcripts, letters of recommendation, news clippings or résumés.

Deadline

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Completed applications must be postmarked and mailed no later than 15 March 2006. Late applications and applications that do not provide all the requested material will not be reviewed. Faxed or e-mailed applications will not be considered.

Theme

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Every year, the Canadian War Museum selects a theme on which students must base their work. For 2006, students are to produce a work on the following theme:

About this year's theme:
2006 marks the 50^th anniversary of the Suez Crisis, in which Canada played a leading role. At the height of this crisis, Canada's then Secretary of State for External Affairs, Lester B. Pearson, proposed a UN peacekeeping force as a means of easing tensions in the Middle East; a plan which later garnered him the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, Canadian troops have taken part in many peacekeeping and peace support operation in the Middle East.

Your original work should reflect on the subject of peacekeeping in the Middle East over the past fifty years. Has peacekeeping helped, or hindered, the Middle East peace process? What do you think of Canada's involvement? Have you or your family been affected in any way by peacekeeping efforts in the region? Do you think the UN has been effective? Have other states or organizations been effective?

Guidelines

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Submissions may use one of the media listed below:

• Text (i.e. essay, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, journalism)
• Visual Art (i.e. photography, drawing, painting, 3-D elements)
• Web Design (i.e. text, images, graphics, animations)
• Audio or Video Productions (i.e. songs, documentaries, commentaries, films)

1. Text

• Must be written either in English or in French, to a maximum of 2000 words.
• Students must include 3 copies of their written assignment.

2. Visual Art

• Students may employ any two- or three-dimensional media.
• Students must submit their original work and 3 copies of an abstract explaining their work and the materials used in a minimum of 250 words.

3. Web Design

• Text elements on the web site must be written either in English of in French.
• Students must ensure that the web site is fully accessible as of 15 March, 2006.
• Students must submit 3 copies of each page/screen from their web site.

4. Audio or Video Production

• Productions must be in English or French (using subtitles or translations where necessary) and must not exceed 10 minutes in length.
• Students must submit 3 copies of the transcript of their production.
• Audio productions may be submitted either on cassette tape or CD.
• Video productions may be submitted either on VHS cassette, DVD or CD-Rom.

Sending your application

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Send your original work and a completed application form to:

Review Criteria

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Submissions will be reviewed by a multi-disciplinary Canadian War Museum committee based on creativity, scholarship, critical thinking, relevance and the ability to communicate a clear message. Of the entries submitted, the committee may select up to five winners, each of whom will receive $1000. The committee reserves the right of final decision.

Notification to students

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All candidates will be notified of the committee's decision by the end of June 2006. Submissions, whether successful or not, will not be returned. Winning submissions become the exclusive property of the Canadian War Museum.

Award payment

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Every effort will be made to formally present awards at each successful student's graduation ceremony (if applicable). Failing this, awards will be sent directly to the successful student's current address.

In addition to receiving a monetary award, winning students will have their names appear on a special display inside the Canadian War Museum and have their original works posted on the Museum's website.

Winners of the 2005 Canadian War Museum History Award

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To help mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, applicants to the 2005 CWM History Award were asked to submit an essay on the following topic, "During the Second World War, my family…"

Of the 38 entries received, five were retained as winners:
Please note: essays appear in the language in which they were originally submitted.

Thomas Beck essay
Archbishop MacDonald High School
Edmonton, Alberta

Shannon Epler essay
École J.H. Picard School
Edmonton, Alberta

Laura Holland essay
Michael Power Secondary School
Etobicoke, Ontario

Kendra Matheson essay
Charles P. Allen High School
Bedford, Nova Scotia

Louise McIver essay
Muscrop Secondary School
Burnaby, British Columbia

Inquiries

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For any inquiries about the Canadian War Museum's History Award, students can either e-mail us at: education@warmuseum.ca or call us at (819) 776-8617 and leave their name, a brief message and phone number.