School Contest for Grades 6-12
Contest over for 2023 – Stay tuned for details on the 2024 contest!
Easter Seals invites youth in Grades 6 – 12 across B.C. and Yukon to design a colourful flag that symbolizes the theme making B.C./Yukon a better place to live through an AccessAble society.
May 28 to June 3, 2023, is Canada’s National AccessAbility Week – a week that celebrates the valuable contributions of Canadians with disabilities and recognizes the efforts of individuals, organizations and communities who are removing barriers and ensuring persons with disabilities have an equal chance to participate in all aspects of Canadian society. For 75 years, a core mission of Easter Seals is to make the lives of people with disabilities better in British Columbia and Yukon.
This school contest is designed to bring out the creativity of students and a discussion in the classroom around INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND ACCESS, leading up to National AccessAbility Week at the end of May. Students are asked to design a flag that symbolizes what diversity means to them and symbolize what B.C./Yukon looks like as an AccessAble society. There are prizes for students, teachers and classrooms!!
Congratulations to our 2023 Winners!
Grade 6-8 Category
2023 Winner: Mudita S., Grade 8
School: Gordon Head Middle School, Victoria
“Overall, I wanted my flag to represent diversity in all forms. I decided to include a representation of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, so that’s why I chose to use this sacred symbol to portray my themes of inclusion. In the middle, I have an eagle feather; they represent friendship, honour, and respect in Indigenous cultures. These elements are key to having an accepting community, so I incorporated the eagle feather into my flag. Surrounding the flag is a mosaic style-background, each piece depicting a different aspect of diversity. I have pictures representing disabilities, the LGBTQIA+ community, different ethnicities, and themes of kindness and love. There are also images to represent community and equity, which are important components I showcased in my flag. My design shows that we are all very diverse and important to society, so despite differences we can lead the way into a brighter future for all.” ~ Mudita, 2023 Winner
Grade 9-12 Category
2023 Winner: Sanjna A., Grade 9
School: Tamanawis Secondary School, Surrey
“I designed the flag around British Columbia’s provincial symbol, the spirit bear. Spirit bears symbolise courage and strength. By incorporating this symbol into the flag design, the province’s uniquely beautiful and diverse population is represented. The spirit bear’s silhouette captures the captivating northern lights, which can be seen in Yukon. A group of seven people, both disabled and not, can be seen walking down the mountain, gazing up at the starry sky. The pink string linking their hearts represents the phrase “Our hearts beat as one.” This phrase represents the unity and love that unify them despite their differences. They cherish every moment of life and appreciate the diversity that each individual brings to the group. On the flag’s border, a Steller’s Jay, British Columbia’s provincial bird, representing bold and fearless energy, rests on a branch. Finally, my flag’s colour theme is purple, which symbolises wisdom, peace, and pride.“ ~ Sanjna, 2023 Winner
Prizes for Students, Teachers & Classes!
CATEGORY A - Grades 6-8
FIRST PLACE – One Grand Prize
- NEW THIS YEAR – The winning design will go on a t-shirt to promote Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) awareness during National AccessAbility Week in 2024.
- $750 in cash for the teacher to purchase learning materials.
- $200 honorarium for the winning student.
- A Panago Pizza Lunch for the winning student’s classroom.
- Two flags will be produced to be given to the student and the school.
- Artwork will be recognized on the Easter Seals website, posters in the Panago stores, and in various local media.
SECOND PLACE – 10 Prizes
- A Panago Pizza Lunch for 10 second place winning student’s classrooms.
- Artwork will be recognized on the Easter Seals website, posters in the Panago stores, and in various local media.
RUNNER UPS – 25 Prizes
- Each runner up will receive a Panago coupon for a free personal size pizza.
- Artwork will be displayed on posters in local Panago stores.
CATEGORY B - Grades 9-12
FIRST PLACE – One Grand Prize
- NEW THIS YEAR – The winning design will go on a t-shirt to promote Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) awareness during National AccessAbility Week in 2024.
- $750 in cash for the teacher to purchase learning materials.
- $200 honorarium for the winning student.
- A Panago Pizza Lunch for the winning student’s classroom.
- Two flags will be produced to be given to the student and the school.
- Artwork will be recognized on the Easter Seals website, posters in the Panago stores, and in various local media.
SECOND PLACE – 10 Prizes
- A Panago Pizza Lunch for 10 second place winning student’s classrooms.
- Artwork will be recognized on the Easter Seals website, posters in the Panago stores, and in various local media.
RUNNER UPS – 25 Prizes
- Each runner up will receive a Panago coupon for a free personal size pizza.
- Artwork will be displayed on posters in local Panago stores.
Contest Rules & Guidelines
DESIGN INSPIRATION
Artwork creative:
- Showcase what AccessAbility means to you.
- Use the theme Making BC a Better Place to Live through an AccessAble Society.
- Use one or more themes of inclusivity, diversity, equity and access.
- Include elements of community.
- Include elements of British Columbia and/or Yukon.
Artwork description:
- Recommended, but not required: a paragraph of 150 words or less, explaining the symbolism and/or story used in the design of the flag.
ARTWORK GUIDELINES
- incorporate the theme: Making BC/Yukon a Better Place to Live Through an AccessAble Society
- size is to be in a flag format with landscape orientation and a 2:1 aspect ratio; downloadable templates on 8.5×11 and 11×17 sized paper available here
- an original design
- no text or lettering elementsSave
- appropriate for a school setting
- one sided (do not put names or info on the back, as the text can be seen through the paper)
- solid colours
- two-dimensional media such as markers, watercolors, acrylic, tempera, pastels, crayon, pencils, collage or computer graphics
NOT ALLOWED
- NO copyrighted material, such as comic strip characters, school or commercial logos
- NO photography
- NO metallic or fluorescent colours
- NO text/letters
ENTRY GUIDELINES
- Contest is only open to British Columbia and Yukon youth in Grades 6-12.
- If teachers have a Grade 5/6 split class, they can enter the entire class.
- Only one entry per student.
- Entries that do not follow the guidelines will not be considered.
- All entries become the property of Easter Seals BC/Yukon, and the student/teacher/school relinquishes all rights to the design.
- The original winning artwork will be required to produce the flag.
- Deadline submission is midnight on April 28, 2023.
- For questions or more information, contact marketing@eastersealsbcy.ca
HOW TO SUBMIT ARTWORK
- Entries will be accepted through the online submission form below.
- Files accepted include jpg, png and pdf.
- Entries must be received by midnight on April 28th, 2023.
- Do not put your name or identifying information on the image itself (or the back of the paper). Include your name in the filename of your design and in the submission form only.
- No files larger than 5 MB please.
Submission Deadline
2023 is Now Closed
Classroom Resources
Start meaningful conversations about disability in your classroom through materials provided by our community partner, the Rick Hansen Foundation. Their Resource Library contains full lesson plans, short activities, videos, e-books and more. Resources range from lesson plans, intended for educators in the classroom, to the Little Big Lessons collection, bite-sized lessons & activities.
Click here for classroom materials.
For more information on Neurodiversity and Autism check out these two documents provided by POPARD:
2022 Winners
Grade 9-12 Category
2022 Winner: Daniel L., Grade 9
School: Sir Winston Churchill Secondary, Vancouver
Grade 6-8 Category
2022 Winner: Ana V., Grade 7
School: Brentwood Park Elementary School, Burnaby
“I based my flag design off of the Medicine Wheel, an Indigenous symbol that links together multiple principles regarding well-being. The white, yellow, red, and black quadrants often represent the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional aspects, in that order. Correspondingly, a symbol for each concept is present – the sun rising over mountains (which references BC and Yukon’s geography, and also alludes to the sun being a significant part of West Coast Indigenous stories), a person in a wheelchair crossing the finish line (a metaphor for AccessAbility), rays emanating from a person’s mind to emphasize neurodiversity, and people of multiple backgrounds and characteristics (as suggested by the multiple colours) holding hands to give emotional support. The Pacific Dogwood of BC and the Yukon fireweed is at the centre. The purple background references the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a historically-significant egalitarian Indigenous democracy in Eastern Canada – which represents the need to build accepting societies.” ~ Daniel, 2022 Winner
