The Student Achievement Awards
Formerly Marion Drysdale Awards Contest
The Student Achievement Awards is a writing and creative arts competition which is open to all public secondary school students in Ontario. The competition is meant to encourage the intellectual development of our students and an interest in society. The 1984 Provincial Assembly established the awards in honour of Marion Drysdale, a secretary at OSSTF/FEESO Provincial Office for twenty-two years, for her dedicated work over so many years.
Each year a new theme is determined by the Member Education Sub-Committee of the Communications/Political Action Committee.
OSSTF/FEESO invites student writers and artists to submit creative writing. Judging will be held at the school, District, Regional and Provincial levels. Eight provincial winners will be awarded $1000 each in prizes and will be invited to our Annual General Meeting in March where a video showcasing their work will be screened.
The current Student Achievement Award package can be found under the forms & links tab.
Please check Event Calendar for deadline dates.
All District 11 entrants into the contest will receive a certificate from District 11.
District 11 School Level Judging Information:
Only ONE entry in each category may be forwarded to the District Office for District Level judging. (If more than one entry in a single category is submitted, both will be disqualified.) Please fill in Student Achievement School Level Winning Entries Summary Sheet (your school's CEE Rep, or Branch President if there is no CEE Rep, will have this form) and submit it with your school’s entries. It is very important to check upcoming events to see when the deadline date is for submission!
Each entry must have the official contest entry form stapled to the front.
All students who enter the school level of the contest will receive a Certificate of Participation. Please indicate the number of certificates needed on the Student Achievement School Level Winning Entries Summary Sheet.
District Level Judging Criteria:
Each entry is to be judged on the basis of the following criteria:
- how well it reflects the contest theme
- literary and/or artistic merit
- emotional impact
- adherence to contest criteria (must be typewritten, double-spaced & less than 1,000 words)
- Note: entries will be disqualified if handwritten, single-spaced or longer than 1,000 words
Entries will be "blind judged", that is, without the name of the student or the school.
The in-school judging panel may send ONE winning entry in each of the categories of the contest to the District office for District level judging. All school level winners will receive a medallion (see picture below) from District 11.
- District 11 level judging is done in late November or early December. All district level winners will receive a trophy (see picture below). District level winning entries are sent on for regional judging.
- Regional level judging is done in January. Regional level winning entries are sent forward from provincial level judging in February.
- All entrants whose submissions were judged at the regional and provincial levels are informed of the results in late February following the provincial judging.
- All regional level winners will receive recognition from the provincial office.
- All provincial level winners are invited to an Awards presentation ceremony in Toronto on the Monday of March Break during the Annual Meeting of the Provincial Assembly.
The School Level Winners will receive a Medallion. The District Level Winners will receive a Trophy