SaskTel to honor Aboriginal youth

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On October 1, SaskTel and the Wichihitowin Foundation will host the second Annual Aboriginal Youth of Excellence Awards at the Sheraton Cavalier in Saskatoon. There will be seven awards handed out in seven categories that will honor outstanding achievements made by Aboriginal youth in Saskatchewan.

Last year, the first annual awards ceremony was held in Regina during the 1998 Saskatchewan Indian Winter Games. It was the first time that youth were recognized by the local media and given awards for their outstanding achievements. The award was a beautiful white buffalo sculpted from rock and marble. Last year six shining awards were given out, this year there will be seven. The award will still be a white buffalo, but with some slight changes that will be different from last year's sculptures.

This year youth can be nominated in the following categories: education, community service/volunteer, sports, recreation, innovation/entrepreneurial, and the new category, arts and entertainment. Joan Beatty, co-chair of the Wicihitowan Foundation and co-ordinator of the awards show, hopes to have more nominees than last year. The rest of the co-ordinators are planning an event that will be more entertaining, more youth-ful, and one that will give more recognition to the youth.

Recognition for youth isn't the only goal for SaskTel and the Wicihitowan Foundation, they hope that these award winners will go on to become role models for other Aboriginal youth in the future. Some of last years winners have already become young role models, and now the youth movement has become even stronger with more Aboriginal youth succeeding in several areas around Saskatchewan.

"It's a very positive thing we're doing" explained Beatty "It gives youth a chance to be in the spotlight of recognition. We're trying to help and recognize Aboriginal youth by making this event more directed at the young people and what their interests are."

The Aboriginal Youth Awards committee is in the process of planning the event and getting more of the community involved by sponsoring a table or simply by nominating a youth. The deadline for nomination forms is midnight, June 30. You can pick up a form at your school or band office. For further information you can contact Joan Beatty or Colleen Cameron at SaskTel by phoning 1-800-873-7573. The planning committee encourages everyone to nominate a youth because the recognition is great, and the rewards are outstanding in the end.

Youth who were nominated last year and did not win can still have a chance at this years awards ceremony. They can update their nomination form with extra achievements to have a better chance this year of winning a white buffalo.

"This will give the Native community more hope for the future" said Beatty. "It will open their eyes to what kind of youth out there are making a difference and, best of all, it will give them and other youth more self-esteem and more pride."