Holy Cross CSS student wins provincial OECTA Young Author Award

June 9, 2020

Abbey Shaughnessy, a Grade 11 Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School student, has won the English Grades 11-12 Nonfiction category of the provincial Young Authors Awards hosted by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) each year.

Abbey’s submission “The Redemptive Power of Reconciliation” was a literary essay about the novel, Keeper ‘N Me by Richard Wagamese and the important redemptive roles of community and traditions.

Congratulations to gr. 11 @HolyCrossPTBO student, Abbey Shaughnessy. Abbey won the English, gr. 11-12 Nonfiction cat. of the provincial Young Authors Award. Her essay, “The Redemptive Powers of Reconciliation“ is a response to Richard Wagamese’s novel, Keeper ‘N Me #pvncleads pic.twitter.com/nPu9Xc3RU9

— McKTeach (@McKennzzz) June 9, 2020

Abbey’s nonfiction piece will be published along with works of all provincial winners, and distributed to Catholic schools in the province.

Catholic teachers are proud to sponsor the annual Young Authors Awards/Prix Jeunes Écrivains. The awards celebrate the writing talents and accomplishments of students from Kindergarten to Grade 12, who submit short stories, poems, and nonfiction articles (e.g. reflection or report) written in either English or French.

There are three levels of competition: School, Unit, and Provincial. The first place winners at the School level advance to the Unit level, and the first place winners in each Unit advance to the Provincial competition. A  collection of winning entries is published in book form each year.

Provincial winners are announced at the June Council of Presidents and certificates are issued to all provincial entries.  Provincial plaques will be issued to all provincial winners and provincial winners will be published in a commemorative booklet.