Aboriginal writing, arts contest in 12th year

The entry deadline for this year's Aboriginal Arts & Stories competition has been set at March 31.

The contest, billed as "the largest and most recognized art and creative-writing competition in Canada for aboriginal youth", debuted in 2005 as the Canadian Aboriginal Writing and Arts Challenge.

That challenge itself was inspired by the success of the 2005 book Our Story: Aboriginal Voices on Canada's Past, which collected original stories by some of the country's best-known indigenous writers—including Tantoo Cardinal, Tomson Highway, Drew Hayden Taylor, Lee Maracle, and Thomas King—exploring important events in Canada's past from a First Nations perspective.

About halfway through its existence, the contest changed from being solely a creative-writing program to one that included artistic contributions in photography, painting, and drawing.

Since its inception, the competition has attracted more than 2,500 participants from Canada's provinces and territories. Eligibility is restrictd to "Canadians of aboriginal ancestry (self-identified, Status, non-Status, Inuit, and Metis) between the ages of 9 and 29", according to guidelines published on the contest's website.

First-place winners in both arts and writing in two age categories receive $2,000 each and a trip for two to the award ceremony. Writing winners get their stories published in Canada's History Magazine, and arts winners receive an opportunity to exhibit their work.

The program is run by the Toronto-based charitable organization Historica Canada, which calls itself "the largest independent organization devoted to enhancing awareness of Canadian history and citizenship", and which runs other programs that it claims reach eight million Canadians every year.