Arctic Inspiration Prize nominees include education, film, and on-the-land groups

A Nunavik on-the-land camp is up against an organization hoping to build Inuit filmmaking in Nunavut and an education initiative in the territory for this year’s $1 million Arctic Inspiration Prize.

The full list of nominees for the annual prize was unveiled Thursday in a news release.

Ajunngittutit is an education initiative stemming from a partnership between Nunavut’s Piruqatigiit Resource Centre and Wenson Support Services.

Also nominated from Nunavut is an initiative to develop an Inuit-led film industry in the territory. The project is called Elevate the Inuit-led Screen-Based Industry Across Inuit Nunaat.

The third nominee is Qikirtajuaq Camp, located near Kuujjuaraapik in Nunavik. Camp organizers are hoping to expand programming, which includes Inuit knowledge sharing, wildlife management and harvesting.

Spanning across the three territories, the Northern Territories Youth and Communities Strategy is also up for the top prize.

The Arctic Inspiration Prize touts itself as the largest annual prize in Canada. It’s a charitable trust that awards seed money to various northern groups so they can get their ideas off the ground. It also has categories with smaller prize amounts.

Two Nunavut projects are among the five nominees for a $500,000 prize.

Ilitaqsiniq, which won last year’s grand prize, has partnered with the Yukon Literacy Coalition and NWT Literacy Council on a project titled Shifting Ice Realized.

That project proposes the creation of resources and an information-sharing network across the northern regions.

Another Nunavut project, titled Learning, Harvesting, Earning, has a goal to teach young men traditional fishing skills.

Four projects have been nominated for the $100,000 Arctic Inspiration Youth Prize.

From Nunavut, a project aimed at providing employment training for young Inuit mothers and women, titled Investing in the Futures of Inuit Women, is nominated.

Two others that span the territories are also nominated in the youth category.

Youth Coalition 4 Food Security North hopes to tackle the issue of food security across the territories and Inuit regions.

L.O.V.E. Inuktut is a language education and revitalization initiative.

This year’s Arctic Inspiration Prizes is scheduled to be presented May 7 at a ceremony in Whitehorse as a part of the Arctic Indigenous Investment Conference.