BAIE-COMEAU, March 31, 2006 -- Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women Beverley J. Oda today announced the names of the Canada Day Poster Challenge 2006 winner and finalists for Quebec. The winner is Émy Gagné St-Laurent, aged 15, of l'École secondaire Serge-Bouchard, in Baie-Comeau.The first place winner was selected from the finalists in the following age categories: Age 5-8 Sarah Eadie, aged 7, of l'École Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cur, in Chapeau Age 9-11 Stéphanie D'Anjou, aged 10, of l'École Guillaume-Mathieu, in Charlesbourg Age 12-14: Dominique Paquet, aged 13, of l'École secondaire Saint-Charles, in Pont-Rouge Age 15-18 Émy Gagné St-Laurent, aged 15, of l'École secondaire Serge-Bouchard, in Baie ComeauIn addition, a special mention was awarded to Alyssa Berris, aged 15, of Collège Saint-Joseph, in Gatineau.The contest results were revealed today at l'École secondaire Serge-Bouchard, at a ceremony attended by the principal, Mr. Pierre Benoît."The Canada Day Poster Challenge encourages young Canadians to visualize Canada through their eyes and explore the many facets of our country, from its landscape and heritage to its people, cultures, and ideas," said Minister Oda. "This contest provides them with an opportunity to display their creativity while demonstrating their pride in being Canadian."The theme of this year's Canada Day Poster Challenge is "Images of Canada." The contest invited participants to express themselves through images that portray what Canada means to them. Year after year, this activity incites increasing interest among budding artists. In all, 1,820 drawings were submitted from the Quebec region for this year's competition, which represents an 82 percent increase over the 1000 drawings entered in last year's Canada Day Poster Challenge.The design of one of the provincial or territorial winners will be chosen as the official Canada Day 2006 poster and distributed throughout the country. The name of the national winner will be announced in May. All 13 provincial and territorial winners and their escorts will be guests of the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, in Ottawa, on July 1, where they will join thousands of other Canadians gathered on Parliament Hill to celebrate Canada's 139th birthday. From June to September 2006, the 13 winning posters will be on display at the Canadian Children's Museum, located in the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.Initiated in 1987, the Canada Day Poster Challenge is one of the Department of Canadian Heritage's most popular programs. Official partners of the 2006 Canada Day Poster Challenge-Hudson's Bay Company, the Trans Canada Trail Foundation, the Historica Foundation of Canada, the Dominion Institute, and the Canadian Children's Museum-will offer prizes to this year's winners.Partners of the Poster Challenge in Quebec include Statistics Canada, Parks Canada, Bentley Group, Contour d'Images, Canada Post Corporation, the Canadian Space Agency, and Access Info-Tech.To find out more about the Challenge, please visit the Canada Day Poster Challenge website.Information: Marie-Claude CadoretteA/Manager, CommunicationsCanadian Heritage, Québec Region514 283-4027Biographical Notes On The Four Finalists In The 2006 Edition Of The Canada Day Poster ChallengeÉmy Gagné St-Laurent, finalist and provincial winner, 15-18 categoryÉmy is 15 years old and an arts enthusiast who enjoys reading, music, and the visual arts. She belongs to an improvisation league at her school. She has already won a prize in a drawing contest organized by Le Soleil. Émy also adores animals and has two cats, Spirou and Figaro. She devotes herself to photography in her spare time. Émy has a collection of insects and her dream is to become an entomologist. She is a gourmet who is fond of sushi.Dominique Paquet, finalist, 12-to-14 age groupDominique, who is 13 years old, is a perfectionist who gets deeply involved in whatever she does. She is in an enriched stream at school, which allows her to be involved in several disciplines such as music, the arts, languages (English and Spanish) and computer science. She is very active and expends her energy playing soccer, cycling and rollerblading. Her career as an artist began at the age of three, when her parents noted her interest in drawing and handicrafts.Stéphanie D'Anjou, finalist, 9-to-11 age groupStéphanie is 10 years old. Dynamic, studious and cheerful are all terms that describe her. Stéphanie has lots of friends. She is very athletic and plays competitive soccer throughout the year. Moreover, she devoted considerable time to gymnastics for three years. Stéphanie also likes dancing, music, and animals. She has two cats, Tom Pouce and Nestor. She received an honourable mention at her school in recognition of her extra effort with respect to the "language and attitude" rule for living.Sarah Eadie, finalist, 5-to-8 age groupSarah, who just turned seven, likes school, reading, writing, piano and singing. She is also athletic and enjoys cross-country skiing and playing soccer. At home, Sarah likes to play with her brothers and sisters. When she is alone, she enjoys drawing, painting and handicrafts. Sarah has filled the pages of her sketch book and hopes to become an artist when she grows up.
