MASC Arts Awards

Friday, May 10, 2024

MASC Arts Awards is a celebration of students in Grades 6 to 8 who are passionate, creative and would benefit from support to explore their artistic development outside the school setting. All nominated students will be honoured at 23rd MASC Arts Awards on Friday, May 10, 2024, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Registration will open soon. Check out the video above to revisit MASC Arts Awards 2019, and check out photos below of MASC Arts Awards 2023.

The 5 winners will receive a scholarship to pursue studies in their art discipline with:

  • Allegro Music Schools
  • Ottawa Children’s Theatre
  • Ottawa School of Art
  • The School of Dance
  • a mentorship with a published author

Two other recipients will receive the Jennifer Cayley Award and the Molly Ellens Award.

In addition, a free MASC workshop will be offered to the class of each winning student.

Criteria of eligibility:

  • The student demonstrates an exceptional passion for the arts
  • The student has had limited opportunities for arts education beyond the school setting
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What people are saying

When I initially entered, I hadn’t been feeling very confident about my writing – but knowing that I won an award for something that I’d written, helped me realize that I do have potential… It’s a huge honour.

— Kailey Rennals, 2019 Winner of the Jan Andrews Literary Award

I think [the winners] will receive some very unique opportunities to learn how to express themselves creatively they wouldn’t otherwise cross paths with.

— Candice Bruchauser, 2001 MASC Arts Award Winner & 2015 Jennifer Cayley Award Winner

Those skills that you learn through the arts… [it’s] a different way of engaging with humanity and society that you can apply to whatever it is that you’re doing.

— Stefan Keyes, 2000 Winner of the Theatre Award

Writing hasn't just been weaved into my life, it's been the driving factor behind most things. I don't go more than two days without writing something, or I feel like something is off kilter. Who knows if I'd still be at it, if you hadn't believed in me then. I have no idea what my life would look like otherwise. You really did just hand over a box of absolute happiness, faith, and opportunity, to a thirteen year old on the cusp of discovering something really incredible. The night of the MASC Arts Awards event, I told my parents, "I feel like an empty glass and tonight was just a jug of happiness being poured in until it overflowed." What a gift.

— Leticia Alvarez, 2013 Winner of the Literary Arts Award, Mentorship with Frances Itani

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