Here is how to do it:

• The writing contest was advertised in the community for 4 – 6 weeks before the submission deadline. Posters were made up, which specified the length requirements and explicitly stated that contest entries would be judged on the basis of grammar and structure as well as content and creativity.
• To increase the incentive to participate, gift certificate prizes were awarded.
• A judging panel of community educators read the contest entries individually and scored them with a rubric that we agreed upon in advance. The members of the judging panel then met to arrive at a consensus about the winning entries. The process of advertising, organizing and judging the contest entries helped facilitate community partnerships.

Seeing the Importance of Writing

The winners of the youth writing contest were announced during an assembly at the Deninu School in Fort Resolution. As a way of introducing the winner, a brainstorming session was done with the learners about what types of equipment they would need to survive in the bush for a month. The learners were quite enthusiastic and came up with a more thorough survival kit than I ever could have devised. I then explained that there is another kind of survival, and writing skills were one of the most important things that they would need in their survival kits as they grew up and took their places in the world. After this group brainstorming session, I announced the winners of the writing contest. It was a very powerful moment.

Creating New Learning Material

The booklets of the winning writing submissions serve as examples of and incentives to the development of writing skills. Since the contest winners in Fort Resolution wrote from their own experience, the booklets are fine examples of excellence in writing within a northern cultural context. These booklets will make good reading material for literacy programs in northern communities, and we are more than willing to send out copies free of charge.

Web Link

Visit the NWT Literacy Council website at www.nwt.literacy.ca to find copies of the writing contest booklets.