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THE
BEGBIE CONTEST SOCIETY In the summer of 1993, Mr. Charles Hou and a group of active and retired BC Social Studies teachers worked together to produce the first Begbie Contest. The idea for a contest grew out of their desire to raise the profile of Social Studies and Canadian history within the secondary schools of British Columbia. The group was aware that both Science and Math offered secondary students opportunities to compete in subject specific contests of various kinds offering a variety of prizes. They resolved to create a comparable competition which would not only allow students to use their knowledge of Canadian history but also their ability to use the skills of critical thinking and historical research and interpretation. They also decided that the contest should be available to senior secondary students and that it should be offered in both English and French to encourage French Immersion students to participate. |
| The B.C. Social Studies
Teachers Association provided initial funding and
financial support. Volunteer teachers prepared and edited
the contest, while university students were hired to mark
the contestants papers. Participating schools were
charged a fee to partially offset the costs of marking
the contest and to provide money for the contest prizes.
Financial support and support in kind has come from a
variety of individuals and organizations. Early in 1997,
the Begbie Contest Society was registered with the
federal and provincial governments as a charitable
organization which could issue tax receipts for donations
received. As the popularity
of the contest continued to grow, the Begbie Contest
Society began to seek entrants from other provinces. In
2001 we began the process of turning the Begbie Contest
into Canadas National History Contest. The members
of the Begbie Contest Society are currently working to
make that goal a reality. We envisioned a Society made up
of classroom social studies teachers from across Canada
who would come together annually to prepare the Contest.
We believed that this arrangement would ensure a truly
national contest which would be fair to all participants.
The Begbie Contest Society has received financial
assistance from the Canadian Studies Program, Department
of Canadian Heritage, to help make this possible
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