This article was first published in The Sheaf, the print newspaper of The University of Saskatchewan. It was an article inside Volume 91, Issue 31.
On March 14, the Magna for Canada Scholarship Fund announced that, once again, it would be offering more than $300,000 in cash prizes and internships with their company as part of their fifth annual As Prime Minister Awards program.
The Magna for Canada Scholarship Fund was created in 1995 by the company, and in a press release issued to universities across the country, Canada’s largest supplier of automotive systems and components confirmed their contest would continue. The release “challenges full-time undergraduate or graduate students from colleges, universities, or CEGEPs across Canada” to write an essay with a maximum of 2,500 words on the question, “If you were the Prime Minister of Canada, what political vision would you offer to improve our living standards?”
50 semi-finalists will be selected by a national panel of judges, who will receive $500 in cash. Ten regional winners, selected by the same judging panel, will receive $10,000 in cash, as well as a four-month paid internship at Magna International Inc., which is valued at $12,000. One nationalwinner will be selected from these ten, and will receive an additional $10,000 in cash and a one year paid internship with Magna International lnc., valued at $36,000.
Winning submissions will be selected “on the basis of solution driven innovative ideas that will portray the vision and courage to chart a course for Canada in the next century,” and will be published and made available at all Chapters bookstores across Canada.
Students submitting an essay can do so in either official Canadian language, on typed, 8.5′ x 11′ paper to the Magna for Canada Scholarship Fund, As Prime Minister Awards program, 337 Magna Drive, Aurora, Ontario, IAG 7K1. A separate piece of paper with the student’s full name, permanent address, telephone number, name of university, area of study, and extracurricular activities is required. Students can also submit essays through the program’s website, located at http://www.asprimeminister. com, which also contains more information on the entire scholarship contest, or can phone 1-800-97-MAGNA if internet access is not available. The deadline for submissions is June 5, 2000.
