Showing her view of the contributions of women in the Second World War was part of the theme of Strathmore High School student Justine McEwing's submission to the Royal Canadian Legion’s poster contest.

Now, the Grade 11 student is waiting to hear back if her artwork will be recognized nationally.

The Royal Canadian Legion works in partnership with schools across the country to host a legion poster and literary contest each year.

The contest is open to children from Grades 1 to 12. The submissions are entered at the local legion and from there, students have a chance to compete provincially or nationally. National submissions are forwarded to the Legion National Foundation in Ottawa to be judged on a national scale.

McEwing says it feels amazing to be recognized for her artwork.

“I'm very passionate about my work, so being able to show people my work that felt really good internally, but then also being able to honour our veterans, it really just made me feel very prideful in my country, and just what we have done just in our global community, so that really felt nice.”

She was also touched that as a young person she was able to use her art to show a bit of Canadian history as well.

The contest began in September and artwork had to be submitted by November 30.

“It was around a two-month period of me solidly working on it,” she said. Her work is made with a pencil on paper. 

“To me, Remembrance Day has always possessed a special place in my heart, and to be able to remember the struggles of Canadians who have contributed to keeping our country safe, compels me to be proud for our country and our people,” said McEwing.

“I thought to draw something that isn't maybe necessarily recognized as much. I drew Canadian women and their contribution to the war effort, specifically in World War Two,” she said.

McEwing explained that often stories of men going overseas to fight wars are what is remembered.

“A lot of times who was mostly recognized were the male soldiers because they had an obviously a major impact on the war effort,” she said but women aren’t necessarily as recognized.

“So I decided to do a poster that showed all of their efforts and how much they actually contributed to the Canadians in the Second World War,” she said.

McEwing explained that she submitted her work to the Strathmore district for the competition, where she won first place. Then her poster was submitted to the provincial competition, where she placed second. Then those submissions are forwarded to nationals.

McEwing says to other young people, “I encourage anyone to participate, even though you may not be super confident in art. It allows you to learn about Canadian history, allows you to participate in something much bigger than what we are, and it allows you to engage in your community and be a part of something. That was very important to me.”