The Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards

(formerly 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 Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards have been instituted to support and encourage these students.

Download the application form (PDF file, 56 Kb)

Value of the Awards

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

Criteria for admission

Application for the Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards is open to all senior students who plan on graduating from secondary school in the spring of 2008. 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

Completed applications must be postmarked and mailed no later than 15 March 2008. 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

Every year, the Canadian War Museum selects a theme on which students must base their work. For 2008, students are to produce a work on the following theme:

Life in the Trenches of the First World War

About this year's theme:
2008 marks the 90th anniversary of the Armistice that ended the First World War. Life in the trenches often defined the wartime experience for many of the Canadian soldiers who fought overseas. Soldiers spent long, dreary days filling sandbags, digging trenches, or standing sentry. At night, they worked in No Man’s Land, laying barbed wire, patrolling the front, or raiding the enemy.

These conditions meant that soldiers could be killed or wounded by snipers, shells, and other weapons at any time. This constant threat and unceasing pressure broke some men mentally, but most learned to survive in the trenches by developing coping skills, relying on camaraderie and creativity.

Your original work should explore the theme of life in the trenches. Here are some questions you might wish to consider in your work: What might life in the trenches have been life for Canadian soldiers? What impact did living and fighting in trenches have on Canadian soldiers? How were soldiers able to cope?

Guidelines

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)

Text

Must be written either in English or in French, to a maximum of 2000 words.
Students must include 4 copies of their written assignment.

Visual Art

Students may employ any two- or three-dimensional media.
Students must submit their original work and 4 copies of an abstract explaining their work and the materials used in a minimum of 250 words.

Web Design

Text elements on the Web site must be written either in English or in French.
Students must ensure that the Web site is fully accessible as of 15 March, 2008.
Students must submit 4 copies of each page/screen from their Web site.

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 4 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

Send your original work and a completed application form to:

Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards
1 Vimy Place
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0M8

Review Criteria

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

All candidates will be notified of the committee's decision by the end of May 2008. Submissions, whether successful or not, will not be returned. Winning submissions become the exclusive property of the Canadian War Museum.

Award payment

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 Web site.

Winners of the 2007 Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards

Applicants of the 2007 Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards were asked to submit an original work on the following topic, “Canada’s Changing Role in Afghanistan”.

Of the entries received, five were retained as winners:

Kelsey Epler,
École J.H. Picard
Edmonton, AB
For her art work, Crucial Changes and abstract (PDF File, 647 Kb)

Olivia Gilmer-Chekosky,
Collège Jeanne Sauvé
Winnipeg, MB
For her art work, Le rôle changeant du Canada en Afghanistan and abstract (PDF File, 245 Kb)

Lindsey MacCallum,
Fredericton High School
Fredericton, NB
For her personal account, Leaving (PDF File, 376 Kb)

Lindsay Steele,
Campbellford District High School
Campbellford, ON
For her story, Dear Mom: I Miss You (PDF File, 953 Kb)

Kelsey Stevens
Ernest Manning High School
Calgary, AB
For her poem, To Be The End (PDF File, 519 Kb)

Inquiries

For any inquiries about the Colonel Douglas H. Gunter History Awards, students can either email us at: education@warmuseum.ca or call us at (819) 776-8672 and leave their name, a brief message and phone number.