The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

17 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,F ebruary 24,2022 insidehalton.com The Halton Black History Awareness Society is organizing a youth essay writing competition on current Black history or contributors to Black history in Halton. "The take-away from this contest will be the opportunity for students to learn about Canadian Black history ... and contribu- tors who are around today," said Dennis Scott, chair for the Halton Black History Awareness Society. Citing a local historian, Scott said that in such a predominantly white culture, "a lot of Black history in the Halton area has been disregarded or hidden or not even thought of" -- though he has personally seen some changes in the past 20 years. "This essay contest is part of us helping change and pushing (for) that change," he said. He said there are many local Black indi- viduals who contribute in the fields of mu- sic, art, culture and more -- from Oscar to Juno Award winners -- that some in the community may not know about. "By talking to these people, our young people and even our adults get a quality knowledge about people who are making contribution toward a better society," he said. The "Local Lens -- The Black Experi- ence" writing contest is supported by vari- ous community partners. The deadline for the submission is April 15, 2022. The top three winners will receive a cash prize, community and cultural award recogni- tion, and media promotion. To join the contest and for more details, go to hbhas.ca/contest.php. An essay writing contest marks Black History Month in Halton. Graham Paine/Metroland WRITING CONTEST INVITES YOUTH TO EXPLORE BLACK HISTORY BAMBANG SADEWO bsadewo@metroland.com WHAT'S ON