Via the Carl Brandon Society I have discovered the IMAGINE Sci-fi/fantasy Contests. These are a series of contests for kids: a short story competition for grades 6-12, a poster art contest for grades 7-9, and a newly launched poster art contest for grade 5.

The contests are run by the Visions of Science Network for Learning (VoSNL) who, according to their web site, are a “not for profit organization that advances the educational achievements and career aspirations of African Canadian and other under-represented youth in the fields of science, mathematics and technology.” They sound like a great bunch of people. There’s more information about the contests here.

And you know, this is a Canadian initiative, and Worldcon is in Canada this year. Isn’t there something we could do? At the very least I’d love to see the winning posters on display at the convention. And I know Worldcon can’t afford to pay travel and accommodation, but if the parents of the winners can get their SF-mad charges to Montreal I’d like to think they’d be welcome guests.