Senior first place colour poster Kaitlyn Hewett, Barrie, Ont. | Maple Ridge Secondary School | Dr. W.C. (Bill) Little. MM Br. [Kaitlyn Hewett]
“They said we fought for peace,
but peace feels heavy.
It sits in your chest at night,
asking if it was worth it.”
So reads a stanza from “Where Silence Speaks,” the first place-winning poem written by Chanelle Keating of Northeast Kings Education Centre in Canning, N.S., in the intermediate category of the 2026 National Youth Remembrance Contests.
Though she hasn’t fought in any wars, Keating’s poem—and, indeed, the entries from all 48 national finalists this year—reveals an innate wisdom about conflict, sacrifice and remembrance. A “wisdom of the heart” as Charles Dickens put it; a clarity of thought we have in youth that can take a lifetime to come back to.
Since 1960, Canadian students from kindergarten to Grade 12 (secondary 5 in Quebec) put their hearts to pen and paper—and in recent years, video—to show what remembrance means to them in the national competition. Run by the Legion National Foundation, the charitable arm of The Royal Canadian Legion, and sponsored by Legion Magazine, the contests have grown to include submissions from nearly 100,000 students each year, with participants entering their work in primary (kindergarten to Grade 3), junior (Grades 4-6), intermediate (Grades 7-9) and senior (Grades 10-12) categories. Entries are then judged at the branch, provincial and national levels.
National finalists receive cash prizes, and first-place senior category winners also nab a trip to Ottawa to represent Canadian youth at the national Remembrance Day ceremony. Select winners also earn a spot in an exhibition at the Canadian War Museum in the capital.
Senior first place black and white poster Nancy Ge, Waterloo, Ont. | Laurel Heights Secondary School | Waterloo Br. [Nancy Ge]
“I’ve been involved in the contests for about 18-20 years now, since I’ve been in the Legion,” said RCL Dominion Past President Berkley Lawrence. “It always blows me away when you get the national winners and [see the work from] those young age groups.
“Meeting the kids the last two years in Ottawa,” he continued, “they had lunch with the governor general, met the prime minister. It’s a life changing event for these students.”
Ultimately, said Lawrence, the contests “give them the idea of remembrance leading up to Nov. 11,” something that’s particularly important in schools where a two-minute moment of silence is often the only remembrance event of the year.
For finalists like Keating, that moment of silence has gained a more heartfelt significance in her work. Her last stanza reads:
“Now, when people stand in silence,
two minutes stretching into eternity,
I don’t think of war.
I think of the laughter we lost,
letters never sent,
and how courage sometimes
looks a lot like fear
that refused to die.”
SENIOR FIRST PLACE ESSAY
AINSLEY PEREZ
Pickering, Ont. | St. Mary Catholic Secondary School
Bay Ridges Br.
LAST TIMES
As the sun begins its descent in the sky, I lay on this battlefield of death and valour, remembering those ‘last times.’ I have done so many things in my short life that at some point I did them for the last time! I took advantage of the small things life has to offer because what I didn’t realize was that there would unknowingly always be a last time for everything.
I’ve been thinking about the last time I used a pencil. The last time I petted my dog. The last time I played the piano.
The Battle of Passchendaele is the last time I will know the hell of this war. For that, maybe I should be thankful. It will be the last time I will witness unimaginable hardship for my fellow Canadian soldiers as we battle through relentless mud, driving rain and heavy enemy fire.
The mud is cold through my coat. The air tastes of iron, fear, and loss. Blood cries out from the ground. My blood. The blood of my comrades. The blood of our youth. The blood of a nation standing up for peace and freedom. But my last thoughts go back to what seems like a faraway world—back to my home. Back to a place where, not long ago, I innocently took for granted all of the last times that I would never experience again.
Life’s greatest moments are the simplest of moments. Those moments that are untouchable as I lay on death’s bed. How I long for those last times. If only I could have just one more moment at home, doing the most mundane of things. Basking in the simplicity of some of those greatest moments. I never imagined that my life would be taken away so quickly. And now those last times are all I have left to hold onto until the minutes of time run out.
I remember the last time I lay in the wheat fields of Saskatchewan—golden and endless, under the hot summer sun. I remember the wind brushing against my face as I ran barefoot, chasing after my brother, laughing at nothing, laughing at everything. I remember the last time I was in my farmhouse kitchen. My mother humming softly as the smell of warm yeast from the baking bread filled the room. My mother looked up from her work to greet me with a smile, so gentle and joyful. A small expression I will never see again.
I remember the last time I took the train, the smell of burning coal and the last goodbye from my father as he shook my hand like a stranger, because it was the only way to keep his voice steady.
I remember the last time I had a snowball fight with my best friend Caleb. The ice stinging our faces as we chased each other endlessly around our front yard.
I remember the last time I skated on the pond with my little sister, laughing and giggling as she fell for a third time.
I remember the last time I received a letter from her— the girl I will never get to marry. Her words giving me great comfort and filling me with love and hope.
It’s strange what we remember in our last moments. I don’t remember how much money I have in my pocket. I don’t remember the speeches of political leaders or what my final marks from high school were. I only remember seeing those who made my life what it was. I only remember the feeling I had at home, how those close to me made me feel. I laughed. I loved. I was loved.
And now there are no more last times.
Perhaps what this war will teach us is that each life, however brief, leaves an imprint and impression. Mine will rest in the fields of Europe but also in the voices of those who remember us—the soldiers who never made it back home to our beloved Canada.
The mud is cold through my coat. The air tastes of iron, fear, and loss. I close my eyes for one last time, and home is right there – just past the gunfire, just past the cries of anguish, just past the death and destruction—for the last time.
Intermediate first place colour poster Claire Kim, Calgary | Griffith Woods School | North Calgary Br. [Claire Kim]
Intermediate first place black and white poster Rachel Stahl, Oak River, Man. | Oak River Colony School | Oak River Br. [Rachel Stahl]
INTERMEDIATE FIRST PLACE POEM
CHANELLE KEATING
Kentville, N.S. | Northeast Kings Education Centre
Habitant Br.
WHERE SILENCE SPEAKS
The battlefield is gone now,
but it lives behind my eyes.
Grass grows where fire once burned.
Beneath the soil, the roots of poppies
drink what the Earth still mourns.
We called it duty,
but sometimes it felt like falling
into something bigger than reason,
smaller than forgiveness.
I buried friends with hands
that still remember the warmth of theirs.
The dirt never leaves your palms.
Nor the faces you couldn’t save.
They said we fought for peace,
but peace feels heavy.
It sits in your chest at night,
asking if it was worth it.
And I wonder,
Did the stars see us then?
Did they tum away,
ashamed that flames can tear apart
the fragile parts of a human heart?
Now, when people stand in silence,
two minutes stretching into eternity,
I don’t think of war.
I think of the laughter we lost,
letters never sent,
and how courage sometimes
looks a lot like fear
that refused to die.
JUNIOR FIRST PLACE ESSAY
AUDREY WILSON
Wentzell Lake, N.S. | West Northfield Elementary
New Germany Br.
REMEMBRANCE DAY TO ME
Remembrance Day to me is remembering all the people who did amazing things for our country. I have multiple relatives that used to be in the war. Remembrance Day is a very special day for me. I’ll be telling you about these relatives.
The first member was my mother’s grandfather. His name was Neil MacPhee. He served with the Cape Breton Highlanders. I know how much he loved Remembrance Day and how he was proud to be a soldier in all the stories told. This could be why I love Remembrance Day too.
The next relative is one of my dad’s grandfathers, Todd Wilson. He drove a tank with the New Brunswick Hussars. He helped with the Liberation of the Netherlands. I had never met him before he died but I know that he was proud to serve which makes me proud of him too.
The last soldier is a family member I did meet. He was my Great Papa and my dad’s grandfather. His name was Russel Melvin. He served with the Canadian Army Pacific Force. He was very kind and peaceful. We would go to visit him when I was younger and he was one of the sweetest people ever.
As you can now see, Remembrance Day is a very special day for me and my family. Remembrance Day is a day to remember the people who we might not know who served and the family members that served for our country. Every year I have a picture of these family members on our school’s wall of remembrance. I place a poppy every year in remembrance of these relatives at our school’s Remembrance Day ceremony. I lay a wreath in New Germany on Remembrance Day for West Northfield Elementary School. On this day I think to myself “Superman isn’t our hero, these people are.” That is what Remembrance Day is to me. To think about those heroes.
Junior first place colour poster Ziyu Candice Li, West Vancouver | Collingwood Junior School | West Vancouver Br. [Ziyu Candice Li]
Junior first place black and white poster Evie Li, Toronto | Ivy Yin Yuk Leung Art Studio | Scarborough Centennial Br. [Evie Li]
Primary first place colour poster Monroe Arcand, Municipal District of Greenview No. 16, Alta. | Penson School | Grande Prairie Br. [Monroe Arcand]
Primary first place black and white poster Louisa Monk, Dartmouth, N.S. | Michael Wallace School | Somme Br. [Louisa Monk]
2026 RESULTS
SENIOR
Black and white poster—Nancy Ge, Waterloo, Ont.; Second: Erin Nicholson, Elmsdale, N.S.; Third: Ashley Nadeau, Neepawa, Man.
Colour poster—Kaitlyn Hewett, Barrie, Ont.; Second: Alyssa Byrne, Goulds, N.L.; Third: Chaelyn Han,
Vancouver
Poetry—Samyukta Warriar, Edmonton; Second: Loujin Farhat, Charlottetown; Third: Dina Al-Hilal Brookfield, N.S.
Essay—Ainsley Perez, Pickering, Ont.; Second: Amelia Rideout, Gander, N.L.; Third: Aaliyyah
Kazmeen-Abimbola, Winnipeg
Video—Madelyn Marcellin, Caledonia, Ont.; Second: Elia Bélanger, Magog, Que.; Third: Carelle Georges Kepwa Tchieyep, Edmundston, N.B.
INTERMEDIATE
Black and white poster—Rachel Stahl, Oak River, Man.; Second: Alyssia Mohammed, East York, Ont.;
Third: Isabelle Jessome, Elmsdale, N.S.
Colour poster—Claire Kim, Calgary; Second: Elyn Han, Vancouver; Third: Catherine Zhao, Charlottetown
Poetry—Chanelle Keating, Kentville, N.S.; Second: Meadow Smid, Onanole, Man.; Third: Cassidy Wollman, Tisdale, Sask.
Essay—Onajevwe Oduma, Calgary; Second: Anya Waldner, Newton, Man.; Third: Sofia Bazylewicz, Lark Harbour, N.L.
Video—Gwen Beaudoin, Amherstburg, Ont.; Second: Milo Katuski, Wynyard, Sask.; Third: Mannix Meagher, Rothesay, N.B.
JUNIOR
Black and white poster—Evie Li, Toronto; Second: Stella McDowell, Yorkton, Sask.; Third: Alice Carruthers, Port Williams, N.S.
Colour poster—Ziyu Candice Li, West Vancouver; Second: Merrigan Monk, Dartmouth, N.S.; Third: Siha Shin, North York, Ont.
Poetry—Mariia Khanina, Charlottetown; Second: Thea Bradshaw, Lashburn, Sask.; Third: Stephanie Sujic, Victoria
Essay—Audrey Wilson, Wentzell Lake, N.S.; Second: Jordan Fowler, Corner Brook, N.L.; Third: Madelyn Schneider, Kyle, Sask.
PRIMARY
Black and white poster—Louisa Monk, Dartmouth, N.S.; Second: Whitney Cooper, Bellevue, Alta.; Third: Bowen Shao, Richmond, B.C.
Colour poster—Monroe Arcand, Municipal District of Greenview No. 16, Alta.; Second: Eleanor Robertson, Sechelt, B.C.; Third: Lynxton Gardiner, Big River, Sask.
Advertisement
