Ottawa, March 4, 2020 – French for the Future is pleased to reveal the winners for its 15th National Essay Contest. This year, more than 500 students from grade 10 to grade 12, coming from all across the country, have tried their hand. Their original essay was centered on this question:
“On June 17th, 2019, Canada has declared a climate emergency. If you were put in charge of leading the government, how would you respond to this emergency?”
Through this theme, French for the Future provided an occasion for French First Language (FFL) and French Second Language (FSL) students to develop on the concrete and polarizing subject that is Climate Emergency. This contest was an occasion for them to elaborate on the importance of participating in environmental discussions, and propose concrete action plans to reduce their ecological footprint.
These topical issues have also challenged the panel of judges, constituting of teachers, who appreciated the experience this year. For Geneviève Forget, a teacher in Gatineau, these numerous essays centered around innovation and adaptation towards climate changes are reassuring: “What beautiful essays! I learned a lot, and the students have very good ideas. It’s very reassuring.”. The ingeniosity of the participating students was also underlined by a representant of this competition’s sponsors: “What a pleasure it was to read these essays! Some of the ideas proposed by the students were very refreshing”, commented Diego Creimer, representative of the David Suzuki Foundation.
90 scholarships were to be won during the Contest, totalling $282,000. This is a great opportunity for the winners to build their confidence in themselves, and their language level, as well as to consider a post-secondary pathway in French at one of our 13 partner institutions. This was great news for Chloe Bella Khouri, recipient of a $1,000 bursary for the University of Ottawa, ON: “I would like to thank you again for this incredible gift. Your contest has pushed me to enrich my vocabulary and learn more on subjects such as the governmmental protocols and the impact of pollution on our ecosystems. Thank you infinitely to French for the Future for allowing me to go to my dream university.”
French for the Future also wishes to give young winners the opportunity to share their ideas with the general public, by making all of the winning essays available online on its website.
Here’s the list of this year’s 20 biggest winners, under their respective categories :
August 9 to 14, 2020. This event will bring together young francophones and francophiles for a week full of activities and formation centered around bilingualism. Grade 10 and grade 11 students are invited to apply through the French for the Future website.
Registrations will be open from April 2nd to May 3rd, 2020.
For more information on our programs, please visit the French for the Future website at: french-future.org
