Nunavut child-youth advocate holds writing contest

Nunavut’s Representative for Children and Youth, Sherry McNeil-Mulak. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut’s Representative for Children and Youth is inviting young people to submit their writing to a contest in celebration of National Child Day, held Nov. 20.

The contest, dubbed “Your, Story, Your Voice,” asks children from kindergarten to Grade 12 to write a few words on “the right to your culture,” in recognition of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child.

National Child Day commemorates the adoption in 1989 of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Canada, which ratified the convention in 1991, has celebrated National Child Day since 1993.

“We want to hear from young Nunavummiut about what this right means to them. How do they see it at work in their lives?” Sherry McNeil-Mulak, the Nunavut youth representative, said in a news release.

“When children share their stories and opinions, it creates amazing opportunities for our whole territory to learn and grow.”

Entries can be anything from a picture accompanied by a few sentences to a longer piece on the topic no longer than 1,000 words.

Prizes will be given to the top submissions in three age groups.

• Kindergarten to Grade 3: Leapfrog Leappad

• Grade 4 to Grade 7: an iPod Nano

• Grade 8 to Grade 12: an iPad Mini.

Classes who participate will also be entered into a draw to win another prize, worth up to $200, that will be determined in consultation with the RCY office.

Submissions will be accepted until Jan. 20, 2016.

Winners for the ‘Your Story, Your Voice’ competition will be announced in February 2016.

For more information on the contest, visit the Representative for Children and Youth website here.

The Representative for Children and Youth, a watchdog created by Nunavut’s legislative assembly in 2013, monitor Show the Government of Nunavut responds to the rights and interests of children.

Their office, located in Iqaluit, opened Sept. 30.

Short on inspiration? Read a simplified version of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child.