Standardbred-Themed Contests for Ontario Students

The Bill Gavin Racing Alliance (BGRA)  has found a fun way to attract young people to the sport of harness racing.

The non-profit’s mandate is to create and encourage partnerships and programs that will promote and grow harness racing by engaging youth and the general public with the Standardbred industry.

To this end, the organization is running two contests for Ontario students. The Youth Literary Derby is a juried, Standardbred horse-themed writing contest for Ontario students in Grades 3-8 and it carries $2,000 in prize money.

The Youth Art Derby is a juried, Standardbred horse-themed art contest for Ontario students in Grades 3-12 and it carries $1,500 in prize money.

The group was named for Bill Gavin, a Canadian horse racing historian, poet, author, publisher, educator, horseman, humanitarian, publicist, racing official and magazine editor who passed away in 2020. He was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2014.

Contests close on August 31st.

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