Although there were slightly fewer entries for the annual Remembrance Poster and Literary Competition in 2010, the Turner Valley Branch 78 of the Royal Canadian Legion still received nearly 900 assorted efforts. Once again, this was more than any other branch in Canada.
The Turner Valley Branch is responsible for 25 schools from an area that stretches from Okotoks in the east to Bragg Creek in the west, from Red Deer Lake in the north to Longview in the south and includes the towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley. This year only a couple of schools did not submit entries.
Standards were as impressive as ever and the judges in the 12 categories were often hard-pressed to select just three to receive recognition. This resulted in four or five students being recognized in some of the ages and mediums. Posters in both black and white as well as colour, along with poems and essays, were judged at the branch level before the eventual winners were sent along to be judged at the District and then the Area levels. Any adjudged as winners were then sent to Provincial Command level from which a winner would move to National (Dominion) Command.
The awards were presented recently at a ceremony in the Turner Valley Branch attended by a packed house comprising of students, parents, grandparents, siblings, other relatives and a smattering of teachers, all of whom were later treated to drinks and snacks by the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Branch.
Following opening ceremonies led by President Comrade Michel Jackson, Sgt-at-Arms Comrade Hughes escorted branch winners to receive their awards. Past President Comrade Gordon Day, who is the long-time co-ordinator of this annual event, announced the winners and they in turn received their certificates and cheques from Comrade Jackson along with pins and Canadian flags from the Branch Membership Chair, Verna Staples.
The First Vice-President of Alberta/North-West Territories Command, Comrade Dave Horrocks, then presented awards to winners at Area and District levels.
A special presentation was made to Zoe Osbourne from Edison School in Okotoks who won first place awards for her literary efforts at every level, including provincially, before her writing was forwarded to Dominion Command to be judged against the winners from across Canada.
