Every year it gets harder and harder to choose winners in the Annual Fire Prevention Week Colouring Contest sponsored by the Valley East Fire Department. This year was no exception, however, the top awards were announced during the open house on October 1.

In the Primary Division, which included children from JK to Grade One, the winners were as follows: 1^st Place: Kendra Salminen, Grade One at Ecole Notre-Dame de l’Esperance; 2^nd Place: Ashley Potvin, Grade One at Ecole Notre-Dame de l’Esperance; 3^rd Place: Jeremy Saya, Grade One at St. Michel School.

In the Junior Division, which included children from Grade Two to Grade Four, the winners were: 1^st Place: Roxanne Domansky, Grade Three at Notre Dame School in Hanmer; 2^nd Place: Chanelle Gascon, Grade Four at St. Michel School; 3^rd Place: Valerie Gervais, Grade Three at Ecole Foyer-Jeunesse.

In the Senior Division, which included children from Grade Five and Grade Six, the winners were: 1^st Place: Sophie Goulet, Grade Six at Ste.  Therese; 2^nd Place: Stephanie Gagnon, Grade Five at Notre Dame du Rosaire; 3^rd Place: Melissa Sullivan, Grade Six at Ecole Foyer Jeunesse.

Valley East Fire Prevention Officer, Bob Plante, was extremely grateful to all of the children and their Teachers who helped make this contest such a success, “When we first started this contest a number of years ago, we were lucky to have enough entries to cover one small wall. Now, we have them all over the place. It’s just great to see so many children getting involved. It is getting so hard to pick winners from all of the good entries that we have, but I leave that up to my selection committee.”