The sixth annual Jim Hume Memorial Student Essay Contest invited students attending western Canadian post-secondary institutions to write an essay in response to the following question:
“How can we make western Canada an especially inspiring place to live?”
The old saying goes that a house does not make a home and the same idea applies to our cities, provinces and region. While there is no question that many foundational elements of society—infrastructure, strong trade relationships, a healthy environment, social supports, and access to good education and health care, to name a few—must be in place for society to prosper, it is also clear that those pieces are not enough. There must be cultural, spiritual and community richness in place to make a society truly a home to those that live there and a beacon to those that do not.
A $5,000 cash prize for the best essay, a $3,000 cash prize for the second best essay and a $2,000 cash prize for the third best essay were offered as an incentive to participate.
The Canada West Foundation congratulates Stephanie Cleveland of Brandon University for writing the winning essay. Congratulations are also extended to Alyse Munro Hindley at Camosun College Interurban Campus for writing the second prize essay and to Justin Chen at Simon Fraser University for writing the third prize essay.
Funding for the Jim Hume Student Essay Contest has been provided by Sheila O’Brien and Kevin Peterson.