FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2005

Nominations sought for Sir Mackenzie Bowell Award
This year marks the 39th anniversary of the Sir Mackenzie Bowell Award. The educational community and the general public are invited to submit award nominations for any person who has made a valuable contribution to education in Hastings and/or Prince Edward Counties. The nominee must have been active in education during the current school year. The Education Week Committee has distributed information to all participating schools in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties requesting nominations for the Sir Mackenzie Bowell Award for the 2005 Educator of the Year.

Nomination submissions should be brief, factual statements of the nominee's contribution to education in Hastings and/or Prince Edward Counties under the following headings: academically, culturally and/or recreationally, through the person's vocation and/or avocation, locally and/or regionally, for the child, adolescent and/or adult, through professional organizations and/or community service organizations. Nomination submissions should not exceed 10 pages.

Submissions must be received by the Sir Mackenzie Bowell Award Sub-Committee no later than 2005 Thursday April 7 in care of:
Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board
Attention: Julie Kezar, Superintendent’s Office
156 Ann Street
Belleville, Ontario K8N 1N9

The award winner will be announced at the Education Week Breakfast and will be presented with the award at that time.

Sir Mackenzie Bowell (1823 - 1917) was a strong supporter of education and an active promoter of Hastings County. An outstanding Canadian citizen, he was primarily a self-taught man who earned a teaching certificate. In 1854, he was elected to the Belleville Board of Education and served as chairperson of that board from 1856 to 1867. He was also a successful businessman who served as editor and proprietor of The Intelligencer for many years and also helped form the Belleville Board of Trade (Chamber of Commerce) in 1865. In his editorials he stressed education as a key to development and championed the growth of Belleville and Hastings County as a whole.

In addition, Sir Mackenzie Bowell was a man of steadfast character, courage and integrity, placing principle before political party; he held the highest positions in the Orange Lodge, and he served "on the frontier" with the militia when Irish-Americans threatened invasion in the 1860's. Politically, he distinguished himself as a federal cabinet member, a senator, and Canada's fifth prime minister (1894 - 1896).

The Education Week Committee is composed of representatives from the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology, Sir James Whitney School, Albert College, Quinte Area Christian Schools and Quinte Mohawk School.

For more information, contact:
Julie Kezar, Sir Mackenzie Bowell Award Committee, (a Sub-Committee of the Education Week Committee), 966-1170 or 1 800 267-4350, ext. 2237