In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, OWL Magazine launched a national cover contest inviting kids, ages 8 – 14, from across the country to submit artwork that best depicted what they thought was “cool” about Canada. The contest ran from February 18 – March 31, 2017 and the winning artwork was submitted by 11-year old, Abigail DiBiase, from Wasaga Beach, Ontario.

The grand prize winner will receive an Acer tablet, an Owlkids Books prize pack and their artwork will be featured as the cover of OWL’s June 2017 issue, hitting newsstands across Canada on June 5, 2017.

“We were overwhelmed by the response from our readers. We received over 400 entries and the quality of the artwork was incredible,” shares Kendra Brown, Editor, OWL Magazine. “Kids were excited to share with us, through their art, what they loved about Canada, and I was so impressed by both the creativity and thoughtfulness of their submissions.”

Judges noticed a recurring theme in many of the entries: the importance of diversity and unity. The winning entry was voted as the best visual representation of this shared sentiment. “The idea of inclusion, openness and acceptance was a common element expressed through the art of many OWL readers,” adds Brown.  “Now, more than ever, it is especially reassuring to see such a hopeful and positive message being shared by this younger generation. We are thrilled to be celebrating this attitude by featuring Abigail’s artwork on our June 2017 issue.”

“I love the magazine and had a lot of fun working on my cover,” shares DiBiase. “My artwork shows that Canada is full of so many different people and I think it’s really cool that we all live together in a happy way.”