Colleges Ontario

(OTTAWA, June 2, 2009) – La Cité collégiale student Janie Bériault Therrien’s unique view of her college experience has captured top honours in a provincial photo contest.

Her submission, a beautifully shot black-and-white photograph of a woman peering through a hole in a map, was the first-place winner in the provincewide “You Are Here” photo contest run by Colleges Ontario, the organization representing Ontario’s 24 public colleges.

“Creativity is one of the characteristics we value in our students,” said Andrée Lortie, president of La Cité collégiale. “Janie’s photo is an excellent example of both the technical skills Janie has developed while studying at La Cité collégiale and her own creative insight. It is a great photo and we are very pleased it won the contest.”

There were 103 photos entered in the contest, which was open to all full- and part-time students at Ontario’s 24 colleges.

Bériault Therrien’s prizes for winning the contest are a 16 GB iPod Touch and a $100 iTunes certificate. Her winning photo will be included in Colleges Ontario’s 2010 desktop calendar and as the cover art for Colleges Ontario’s holiday card in December.

The photo contest began last fall. Students were invited to submit to Colleges Ontario a photo related to the theme, “You Are Here: A College Experience.” A selection committee consisting of members of the visual arts and college communities chose the top 12 photos from the 103 entries.

The top 12 photographs were showcased in February at the Colleges Ontario 2009 Conference in Toronto and conference delegates voted for their favourite photograph.

The other 11 entries showcased at the conference will also be included in the Colleges Ontario desktop calendar. The photos were submitted by students from a range of programs in the colleges, from aviation flight management to floral design and digital arts.

The other students whose works will be featured in the calendar are:

• Kevin Roy, Collège Boréal
• John Kowarski, Confederation College
• Ariane Dubé Lafrance, La Cité collégiale
• Josiane Currer-Briggs, La Cité collégiale
• Marie-Eve Bray, La Cité collégiale
• Ophelie Migneault, Loyalist College
• Landra Smallacombe, Seneca College
• Benny Askarian, Seneca College
• Patrick Szajner, Seneca College
• Ashley Jennings, Seneca College
• Sukhjinder Mangat, Sheridan College.

“The purpose of this contest was to showcase the creativity of Ontario’s college students," said Colleges Ontario president and CEO Linda Franklin. “Students were asked to be literal or abstract in their interpretations and the results were fantastic. And now we have beautiful, student-generated content for our annual calendar."

The 12 photos selected for the calendar and information about the selection committee can be viewed at www.co-youarehere.org. The 2010 desk calendars will be released this fall.

Colleges Ontario is the voice of Ontario’s 24 colleges of applied arts and technology. Ontario colleges serve about 200 communities throughout the province, delivering a wide range of career-focused education and training programs to more than 200,000 full-time and 300,000 part-time students.

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For more information:
Heather Howe
Public Relations and Events Coordinator
Colleges Ontario
416-596-0744 x249
howe@collegesontario.org