Rights of the Child Contest Winners

NOTE: The list of calendar contest winners, and their schools follows this release.

Chelsi Robichaud, a Grade 11 student from L'École du Carrefour du Grand-Havre in Dartmouth, will be the province's Ombudsman for a day.

Ms. Robichaud won the honour for writing an essay as part of a contest to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly on Nov. 20, 1989.

"I am proud that Ms. Robichaud feels strongly about the rights of children and young people," said Ombudsman Dwight Bishop. "The youth services division works very hard to make sure that young peoples' voices are heard.

"I encourage young Nova Scotians to contact our office if they need help. Our office handles complaints from all Nova Scotians, and young people are no exception."

Mr. Bishop made the presentation at Province House today, Nov. 20. Ms. Robichaud will choose which day she will act as the Ombudsman. Ms. Robichaud's homeroom class will receive a prize of $250 for her participation.

In addition, 16 students from grades primary to seven won an iPod Shuffle for their drawings on the topic of the rights of the child. The drawings will be compiled into a calendar that will be distributed to the winning students' classrooms.

The Grade 2 class of Annapolis East Elementary School, with homeroom teacher Lynne Hines, won $250 for the best class participation.

The calendar contest was judged by John Humble, regional director, UNICEF Atlantic.

The Nova Scotia Office of the Ombudsman was established in 1971. The office represents fairness, integrity and good governance for the province.

For more information about the Office of the Ombudsman and the complaint process, visit www.gov.ns.ca/ombu .

The winners of the calendar contest and their schools are:

• Beatrice Forcier, École Bois-Joli, Dartmouth, Grade 5
• Katelynn March, Cape Smokey Elementary School, Ingonish, Grade 2
• Amber MacMullin, École Bois-Joli, Dartmouth, Grade 4
• Morgan Scott, Cape Smokey Elementary School, Ingonish, Grade 2
• Julia-Laure Chavy-Waddy, École Beaubassin, Bedford, Grade 4
• Hailey Fiset, Cape Breton Highland Education Centre, Belle Cote, Inverness Co., Grade 2
• Isabelle Darde, École Bois-Joli, Dartmouth, Grade 4
• Louise Aucoin, École NDA, Cheticamp, Grade 2
• Samantha Duffney, Carleton School, Carleton, Yarmouth Co., Grade 3
• Sophie Blais, École Beaubassin, Bedford, Grade 3
• Danelle Doucet, École Beaubassin, Bedford, Grade 6
• Lauren Lalonde, École Beaubassin, Bedford, Grade 6
• Monique Silver, Evangeline Middle School, New Minas, Grade 7
• Izra Fitch, North East Kings Education Centre, Canning, Grade 7
• Hayam Mahmoud-Ahmed, Malcolm Munroe Memorial Junior High School, Sydney, Grade 7
• Dakota Warren, Cape Smokey Elementary, Ingonish, Grade 5