Viking Scholarship for Excellence

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The Vikings have established a scholarship for former Pee-Wee level Vikings players, to help defray the costs of post-secondary education at CEGEP, college or university. The objectives of the scholarship are to support excellence in athletics and academics, to recognize leadership and contribution to sport in local communities by way of playing, coaching, managing and/or refereeing.

VALUE AND DURATION

There are up to five awards available annually, each valued at $1000 for one year. The award is for former Vikings players that are currently or will next year be studying at CEGEP, college or university.

COMPETITION SCHEDULE

Competitions will be launched annually in November, at the Gala meritas. The deadline will be the first Monday of March each year, for decision in the early summer and activation in the fall of the same year.

COMPETITION #1

Deadline March 5th, 2017
Anticipated date for competition results June 2016
Award activation date September 2016

To be eligible to apply, the applicant must be enrolled full time in post-secondary studies at the CEGEP, college or university level by the autumn of the year the scholarship is awarded.

Past applicants who have been unsuccessful in getting an award are eligible to apply a second time. Candidate can submit a maximum of two applications during their lifetime but can submit a second one only if they have not been successful the first time.

Only complete applications with all accompanying materials requested are eligible for consideration. All application materials must be received by the deadline date for the competition. Incomplete applications are automatically removed from the competition and will not be evaluated. Applicants must have made a significant contribution to sport in their community by way of playing, coaching, managing and /or refereeing and played football at the Pee-Wee level for the Vikings.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Applicants are evaluated on their leadership, on and off the field. There are many ways to demonstrate leadership in sport, academics and community. Some of the possible indicators of leadership include:

• Discipline/Effort (i.e. showing up on time, sustained commitment to team, effort in games and practices, contribution to the team even when injured, etc.)
• Team player/Collaborative (i.e. motivates others, sets up plays for team benefit, attendance, participates in group activities, tries to maximize personal potential, etc.)
• Sportsmanship/Personal comportment (i.e. respects authority, role model for positive behaviour, honest, helpful, etc.)
  Leadership (i.e. builds positive, competitive environment for teammates, sets the bar for effort, discipline, behaviour, attitude, takes initiative without being prompted, etc.)
• Community involvement (i.e. volunteer activities outside of requirements for school, contributions to sport and/or other communities)
• Scholastic performance
• All applicants are asked to demonstrate their leadership in their application. Whenever possible, provide examples to support statements.

APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCESS

Eligible applicants are invited to apply by the deadline above, by filling out the application form [.doc] and submitting the completed form, along with photocopies of transcripts of marks from the current and last year of studies, as well as two letters of reference from Pee-Wee level Vikings coaches and one letter of reference from a teacher (secondary 3 or higher) or community leader, to bourses@vikingsgatineau.ca

To summarize, the following documents must be submitted:

• The application form, duly completed and signed
• One page essay (see application form for guidelines)
• Two letters of reference from Viking coaches
• One letter of reference from a teacher (Secondary 3 or higher) or a community leader
• Transcript of marks from the current and last year of studies
• Applicants should take into consideration the objectives of the scholarship as well as the evaluation criteria when filling out the application. An email confirming receipt of the application will be sent within two weeks after the deadline.

An evaluation committee will assess all complete, eligible applications. Committee members will be experts in sport, leadership and/or academics. Members may include Pee-wee level coaches from other football teams (not the Vikings), coaches of other competitive sports, teachers, community leaders, etc. All committee members are obliged to disclose any conflicts of interest they may have with any of the applicants, and if a conflict of interest does arise, the member in question will abstain from participating in the evaluation of that application.

The evaluation will be based on the information provided in the application, the letters of reference and the transcripts of marks. No other information will be considered.

All decisions made by the evaluation committee are final. No appeals will be considered.

LETTERS OF REFERENCE

Three letters of reference must accompany your application; two from Pee-Wee level Viking coaches and one from a teacher. You may choose to seek a reference from a community leader, who should be an authority familiar with your leadership skills (i.e. head monitor at a summer camp, organizer of a community event, etc) instead of a teacher. Please explain your rationale for this in your one page essay. The letter writer should use the “teacher” reference form.

Please note that a letter of reference from someone who has coached the candidate with the Vikings and taught him or her at school does not count for two letters of reference. It counts for only one.

The reference provider must use the form provided, and must state their name, occupation and relationship with the applicant (i.e. coach, teacher, etc). Letters may not be provided by parents, other immediate family members (e.g., legal guardian, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, sibling) or anyone who has a personal interest or will benefit in any way from the outcome of the competition.

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR SCHOLARSHIP

Successful applicants must present proof of graduation from secondary school as well as proof of full time registration at a post-secondary institution to the Vikings representative by September 30th of the year in which the competition results are announced. A cheque for $1000 will be sent to the scholarship recipient, along with an official letter of congratulations.

Failure to present the two documents specified above by the deadline will result in the award being offered to the highest ranking candidate on the reversion list.

The award may be deferred by one year if post-secondary studies are delayed.

GOVERNANCE

The awards are managed by the Vikings executive committee, who serves as the legal authority to make funding decisions and who serves as the administrator of the Vikings Excellence Scholarship program.

The evaluation committee is responsible for selecting the award recipients, as well as preparing a ranked reversion list of applicants in case any of the top 5 cannot take up their award. The committee will be administered by a representative of the Vikings executive committee.

The membership of the evaluation committee will be renewed on a regular basis, with members serving a maximum of three consecutive competitions. Members will be experts in sport and leadership, who are not in a conflict of interest position with the Vikings football league or the applicants. Former Vikings players, coaches and parents of former Vikings players are not eligible to be committee members for conflict of interest reasons.

CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS

If you have any questions please contact bourses@vikingsgatineau.ca