The Muttart Foundation and Imagine Canada Award $100,000 to Winners of Students (Verb) Charities Contest

Team of post-secondary students from Winnipeg takes home $50,000 first prize!

TORONTO, June 21, 2013 /CNW/ - Six substantial cash prizes were awarded tonight to the winners of the Students (Verb) Charities contest at an awards ceremony in front of an excited and enthusiastic crowd at Toronto's Royal York Hotel. The contest invited post-secondary students from across Canada to submit public awareness campaigns about the charitable sector's impact on quality of life.

Winning campaigns were shown publicly for the first time at the awards ceremony where finalists found out what prizes they won in the national competition. The Muttart Foundation and Imagine Canada awarded $100,000 in prizes to students for the following campaigns: studentsverbcharities.ca/winners

• First Prize of $50,000 was awarded to Emily Doer, Courtney Brecht and Corinne Rikkelmann from Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba for their campaign, I am a Charity Case

• Second Prize of $25,000 was awarded to Suzy Bodiroga, Alex Kyle, Monique Pantel and Josie Marier-Loeppky from Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba for their campaign, Charities are at the Heart

• Third Prize of $10,000 was awarded to Laura Stobbe from the University of Victoria for her campaign, A Charity Was Here

• Fourth Prize of $7,500 was awarded to Mitch Kruse and Tamara Adams from Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba for their campaign, Without Charities

• Fifth Prize of $5,000 was awarded to Jaclyn Leskiw, Michael Trakalo and Katie Madziak from Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba for their campaign, Charities are Everywhere

• Sixth Prize of $2,500 was awarded to Tanner Ziprick and Kelly McGuinness from Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba for their campaign, Most Canadians wouldn't know a charity if it hit them in the face

Contest sponsors are thrilled with the quality of the work students submitted and strongly believe that the creative talents of young people will help them achieve something that the sector hasn't done before. "The charitable sector needs a fresh approach to looking at ourselves and how we tell our stories to others," says Bob Wyatt, Executive Director of the Muttart Foundation.

Marcel Lauzière, Imagine Canada's president and CEO, sees the contest as "an important way for us to connect with the next generation of leaders in our sector and to get a glimpse of the sector's future. It is also an innovative way to engage Canadians with all charities, both locally and nationally."

The Muttart Foundation and Imagine Canada teamed up two years ago to create Students (Verb) Charities, a national contest that asked post-secondary students to create public awareness campaigns that speak about the contribution of charities. The contest challenged students to draw attention to the depth, scope and reach of the entire sector - and to do it as creatively as possible in any form or medium.

Campaigns were judged for originality and for their ability to engage Canadians with charities, by a panel of five sector and communications professionals from across the country.

Now that the contest has reached its conclusion, the winning contest entries are going to be used in a number of different ways to help increase public awareness of Canada's charitable sector and the key role it plays in our country.

Students (Verb) Charities. For more information visit studentsverbcharities.ca.
Twitter: @verbcontest | Facebook: facebook.com/StudentsVerbCharities

The Muttart Foundation considers a robust charitable sector as central to a strong, healthy society. Through their work charities build community and address key social issues and concerns. muttart.org

Imagine Canada is a national charitable organization whose cause is Canada's charities and nonprofits. We support and strengthen charities and nonprofits so they can, in turn, support the Canadians and communities they serve. imaginecanada.ca | Twitter: @ImagineCanada | Facebook: facebook.com/ImagineCanada

SOURCE: Imagine Canada

For interviews with the contest winners, Marcel Lauzière or Bob Wyatt or additional information about the contest, please contact:

Lainie Towell
Project Manager, Public Awareness Contest
Imagine Canada - Ottawa
[email protected]
1-800-263-1178, ext. 303 or 613-238-7555, ext. 303