The Niagara-on-the-Lake branch of the Royal Canadian Legion is handing out first, second and third-place plaques to the winners of its annual Youth Remembrance Contest.

In the first two weeks of March, Lori Beak, Stan Harrington and Henry Adamowski of the NOTL Legion gave plaques and cheques to students from four different schools across town.

The contest, which takes place in communities across Canada, invites Canadian youth to honour the country’s veterans and foster the tradition of remembrance through visual art, writing and video.

In total, the Legion handed out almost 120 plaques to students across town after receiving 400 submissions of essays, poster art and poetry from NOTL’s kids.

First-place winners received a cheque for $20, second-place winners got $15 and third-placers received $10.

Beak said the submissions are evaluated by volunteer judges, Penny-Lynn Cookson, Gale Kerr and David Antscherl.

The contest takes place across town, but the winners have the chance to have their work entered into progressively wider contests, the largest of which takes place at the national level.

Beak, who helps the Legion co-ordinate the program, told The Lake Report they choose the top submissions from the primary, junior and intermediate levels to be judged at the zone level, which includes up to 16 municipalities from the Niagara and Hamilton regions.