Teens to reflect on Afghanistan
This year, the Canadian War Museum (CWM) will be rewarding up to five high school students researching Canada’s changing role in Afghanistan.
Each teenage winner of the annual Colonel Douglas H. Hunter History Awards will be presented $1,000, funded by the Friends of the Canadian War Museum through a bequest from Col. Hunter’s family. These awards are open to all Canadian students graduating from secondary school. Students are asked to produce original works directly relating to this year’s theme, Canada’s Changing Role in Afghanistan. These works can explore any aspect of Canada’s presence in Afghanistan and the nature of, or reasons for, any changes in that presence.
Questions to be considered may range from what Canadian interests are served by the ongoing mission, to how it has affected Canadians or the people of Afghanistan. Projects can range in media from text or visual art to Web design, audio or video production.
“One of the important roles of the Canadian War Museum is to engage youth,” director and CEO of the CWM Joe Guerts says of the contest. “It also permits students to consider the roles of the Canadian government and military in meeting their international commitments, especially involving heavy combat on a scale not seen by Canada since the Korean War,” he adds.
Angus Brown, President of the Friends of the CWM says Col. Gunter’s family had a specific objective in distributing the awards: “to help young people better understand the realities of war, especially both World Wars, Korea and peacekeeping.”
Since their inception in 1998, the CWM History Awards have distributed $38,000 in prizes to 30 students across Canada.
Completed applications must be postmarked and mailed no later than March 15, 2007. Full details and requirements of the competition can be found at: warmuseum.ca/cwm/education/award_e.html.
Info: (819) 776-8618.
