Student Essay Contest

The Jim Hume Memorial Student Essay Contest 2010/11

$10,000 in Prize Money!

2010/11 Essay Question:
What is the most important thing western Canadians need to do to ensure that the West remains a great place to live in the 21st Century?

FIRST PRIZE: $5,000
SECOND PRIZE: $3,000
THIRD PRIZE: $2,000

The best essays will be those that take a clear position and back it up with strong arguments and solid evidence and research.

Rules and Instructions

The Canada West Foundation 2010/11Jim Hume Memorial Student Essay Contest is open to students attending a post-secondary institution in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba during the fall 2010 or Winter 2011 semester. Proof of student status will be required to receive prize money.
The essay should be between 750 and 1,000 words in length. The essay must be submitted to Canada West Foundation via e-mail no later than March 15, 2011. Please send the essay as a standard Microsoft Word file. The author's name, mailing address, email address, phone number, post-secondary institution and field of study must appear at the beginning of the essay. Please include a title, citations and a bibliography.
Essays should be sent to roach@cwf.ca. Please write "Jim Hume Essay Contest" in the subject line. One entry per student, please.
Employees of the Canada West Foundation, its Directors, and their immediate families are not eligible for this contest. Past cash prize winners are not eligible for this contest.
The three best essays will be chosen by a panel of judges. To ensure that the judging is unbiased, the judges do not see the author's name, address, post-secondary institution or field of study during the judging process. Essays will be judged on both style and content. Judges will look for writing that is clear, articulate and logically organized. Decisions of the judges are final.
The essay must be solely the work of the entrant. Plagiarism will result in disqualification.

2009/10 Jim Hume Memorial Student Essay Contest Winners

The Jim Hume Memorial Student Essay Contest, in memory of James Borden (“Jim”) Hume, past board member and supporter of the Canada West Foundation is currently in its 4th year of running. The now completed 2009/10 contest asked post-secondary students in western Canada to submit essays asking the question, “What has to be done to ensure that Canada’s economy benefits from the transition to a low carbon world?”

2009 Winning Essays:
First prize winner
Transforming the Grid: A Strategy for a Diversified Canadian Energy Policy.
Stewart Prest, PhD Student, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia

Second prize winner
Running on Green: How to Ensure Canada’s Success in the Low Carbon World.
Olga Beznosova, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia

Third prize winner
Greener Pastures: Benefitting From a Low Carbon World.
Connor Curson, Political Science student, University of Calgary

The Canada West Foundation congratulates the winners of the 2009/10 Jim Hume Memorial Student Essay Contest.

Click here to download copies of the 2009 winning essays.

2008 Winning Essays:
Wasted Ballots
Brian Baker, University of British Columbia

Shared Destiny: A Common Sense Approach to Strengthening Canada Through Proportional Representation
Matthew Sharp, Simon Fraser University

2008 Honourable Mentions:
Systems for Sanity: The Processes Toward Democracy
Luke Freeman, Simon Fraser University

Canada and Proportional Representation: The Rhetoric of Voting Reform versus the Reality of Representative Democracy
Michael Kulicki, University of Alberta

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Student Essay Contest