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Discover the results of the first Esri Canada Student Story Map Competition

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Author Angela Alexander

Esri Canada's first student story map competition closed on May 24th with entries submitted from across the country. Find out the results of the competition and the interesting stories that were shared.

In the spring, Esri Canada invited grade 6-12 students across Canada to share a personal story or study a phenomenon within their community, province or Canada in an ArcGIS story map. Twenty-seven entries were submitted by students from the Pacific to the Atlantic with stories ranging from regional environmental issues to Canada’s history.

This was an opportunity for teachers to share the wonderful work their students are doing with others in the country. Some of the students who submitted their work were new to story maps while others already had experience using the mapping tools in ArcGIS Online.

The story map submissions were judged on the data used, supporting web maps, geographic analysis and supplementary details. Thank you to all the judges for their time and support in reviewing the entries. The judges are professionals in different industries across Canada. They include:

  • Dave MacLean, Geomatics Faculty at Nova Scotia Community College
  • Ellen Curtis, Director of Education at Canadian Geographic
  • Sally Barton, Assistant Deputy Minister at the British Columbia Ministry of Education
  • Steven Hills, GIS Instructor at Assiniboine Community College
  • Wendy Amy, GIS Manager at Martin Newby Consulting Ltd

Congratulations to Alex C. and his teacher Bruce Miller from Cape Breton Highlands Education Centre/Academy in Nova Scotia who submitted the winning story map. As a new user of ArcGIS Online, Alex created a story map focused on the critically endangered Right Whales, exploring why many of them have died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The submission included significant data and detailed maps that provided relevant information about the regional issue.

New ArcGIS user, Alex C., from Cape Breton Highlands Education Centre/Academy in Nova Scotia submitted the winning story map on why Right Whales are dying in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Thank you to all the teachers who submitted their students’ interesting stories. View the top 10 story map entries and learn some new things about Canada.

The top 10 story map submissions included topics in history, geography and the environment.

Stay tuned for a future blog post on next year’s story map competition!

For teachers new to story maps:

About the Author

Angela Alexander is a K-12 Education Specialist in the Esri Canada Education and Research group. She has over 15 years of experience working with educators across Canada. Angela focuses on producing geographic information system (GIS) and curriculum-specific resources, and conducting and creating custom workshops for educators. She manages the GIS Ambassador Program and is the Technical Chair for the annual Skills Ontario GIS competition. Angela also writes monthly posts for the Esri Canada Education and Research blog, highlighting K-12 educators and partners, new ArcGIS resources and GIS-related events.

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