Elections Manitoba fosters future voters with video challenge

By: Inayat Singh Posted: 11:39 AM CDT Friday, Sep. 18, 2015

Manitoba’s election agency wants to hear from school students about what Canadian democracy means to them, as part of a student video challenge being rolled out this fall.

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Manitoba’s election agency wants to hear from school students about what Canadian democracy means to them, as part of a student video challenge being rolled out this fall.

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Manitoba’s election agency wants to hear from school students about what Canadian democracy means to them, as part of a student video challenge being rolled out this fall.

Elections Manitoba’s video challenge is open to students in grade 7-12 across the province. Classes will create videos in response to three challenges, modelled as questions, and the videos will be judged on specific criteria. Two classes with the most points, one from grades 7-8 and one from 9-12, will win a pizza party and a $500 grant award to a charity of their choice.

“Our office conducts research following each provincial election, and in our research we found that children who grow up in homes where politics and current events are discussed around the dinner table — that’s part of the foundation for building a future voter,” said Alison Mitchell, communications and public information manager at Elections Manitoba.

Mitchell said the response from teachers has been positive, and the agency is trying to get the word out during the busy start of the school year. But the video challenge is getting a boost from interest in the federal election next month.

“Certainly elections are in the mind of Manitobans right now, because of the federal election,” Mitchell said. Another Elections Manitoba education program, called Your Power To Choose, which involves in-class presentations, has seen a boost partly because of the federal election.

Starting Sept. 23, Elections Manitoba will release three prompts for the video submissions. Mitchell hopes that because it’s now easier to take videos with small cameras or cellphones, classrooms can submit videos regardless of the resources they have.

“It’s not like 10 or 20 years ago when you would have to have a very expensive video camera. It can be done with a minimal amount of technology,” Mitchell said. “We don’t even necessarily need the videos to be live action. We’re expecting that in some cases we might get stills and voice-overs.”

“We’re looking for the ideas and the thought behind it, as that’s what is most important.”

Teachers can sign up for and see more information about the challenge at citizennext.ca. The three challenges will be presented as videos featuring an inspiring young Manitoban.