The Mississauga Arts Council, one of a dozen high profile partners, is helping to assist and promote the fledgling Youth Literary Derby.

The Mississauga Art Council encases 38,000 individual artists under one umbrella and acts as a catalyst to inspire and engage and connect opportunities within the Mississauga arts community.

The Mississauga Art Council’s executive director, Mike Douglas, immediately grasped the Literary Derby’s concept of encouraging Ontario’s youth connecting with the equine world and expressing their encounters in prose and verse, and summed up his feelings.

“Essential to creative expression is the stimulating effect of experiencing something new, something that engages your senses and prompts you to think differently, see differently, feel differently.” he said. “At the Mississauga Arts Council we were immediately impressed by the presence of all of these stimulants in the new Youth Literary Derby. Kids away from home on a farm, engaging with magnificent horses and writing about it."

The Youth Literary Derby is a juried, horse-themed contest for Ontario students grades 5-8. It offers $2,000 in prize money and is designed to encourage writing and literacy skills. It reaches out to horse-loving kids with a literary flair to submit their evaluations and perceptions of the Standardbred horse.

The Youth Literary Derby challenges the educational system to draw the attention of today’s youth beyond the world of computers and into the world of nature, and the horse, that has had a major impact on the history and development of this planet.

The Youth Literary Derby’s objective mirrors the Mississauga Arts Council’s three-word mission statement of Create, Connect and Celebrate. It creates the opportunity for Ontario’s youth to connect and develop an appreciation for the Standardbred horse and to celebrate their encounters with these beautiful, intelligent animals with their literary efforts.

For complete contest details and a list of Standardbred breeding farms available for visiting before writing their entry, students are advised to visit the Youth Literary Derby website.

(With files from the Youth Literary Derby)