The 2015 Northwest Regional Heritage Fair took place at the North Pacific Cannery Historical Site on Friday, May 1, with 126 students from the North Coast and Terrace competing with 78 different projects.
"We are thrilled with the turnout," said Lesley Moore, general manager of North Pacific Cannery Historic Site.
"The range of topics are phenomenal. The students put a lot of work into it and really got into the topics."
For the projects, students in Grades 4 to 10 were able to select and research an aspect of local, regional, provincial or national history that was of interest to them, presenting their findings with a poster, panel, model, painting or performance. The majority of entries were done by learners in Grades 4 and 5.
Sixteen judges helped to select the winners in a variety of projects, including five that will get to move on to compete in the provincial contest.
"It's really a chance for the kids to just go for it," said Moore.
While the participants that will compete in the provincial fair still need to be finalized, five projects were recognized with B.C. Heritage Fair Stellar Awards. The first was to home-school student Samuel Charlton for his project "Nishga Girl", the second to Samuel Costa for "Bakerville - Test of Time", the third to Ryver Bryant and Kade Jones for their project on the All Native Basketball Tournament, and a project on the North West Rebellion and fishing that organizers did not have the names for at the time.
Terrace student Charlie Henry was selected as the first-place winner of Canada's History Award for his project "Canadian Pacific Railway", followed by Estin Pigeau for the project "Painting the Red One, White Genocidal Assimilation".
The Lieutenant-Governor Historical Literacy Award was presented to Sera Stevens from Lax Kxeen for her project "Who Founded Barkerville?".
Grade 6 student Grant Slocombe and his sister Jessica, in Grade 4, were chosen for the B.C. Magazine Award for their project "WWII Histories and Mysteries - In our Genealogy". Grant had been chosen for the provincial fair last year.
"I enjoy [the heritage fair] very much. I think it's a good way for people to learn how to write paragraphs," he said.
Pineridge students Kim and Jeremy were selected for the Historic Places Initiative Award for their project "Smoke House".
The Heritage Park Museum Award was given to Gracelynn Campbell for her project "History of First Nations", with Josh Leighton winning the North Pacific Cannery National Historical Site Award for the project "Prince Rupert Firefighting".
The Kitimat Museum and Archives Award of Achievement in Community History was presented to Sammy Pardy for "Hartley Bay".
The BC Hydro Power Pioneer Award was given to the "Charles Melville Hays" project by Pineridge students. The fair's organizers did not have the names of the students.