AWARDS 2024
It takes a village to organize and deliver CREATE each spring, and I’m grateful for all the wonderful support we receive to make this event a success year after year.
Thanks to our Faculty and staff who volunteer as adjudimentors, we can award student excellence in scholarship, research and creative activity through numerous CREATE awards.
Thanks to generous community donations and the Coastal Community Credit Union sponsorship, we distributed over $25,000 in cash prizes to CREATE participants this year. The recognition of student talent boosts their confidence and creates invaluable impacts on their academic journey.
Congratulations to the awards recipients, and thank you to everyone involved in this year's CREATE! I look forward to working with you again for CREATE 2025.
Vanessa Moraes Student Research Engagement Coordinator
Research Posters & Infographics
Best Undergraduate Research Poster - Sarah
Cash Prize $500
Exploring the Relationship Between Disordered Eatin and Post-Substance Use Treatment Outcomes
Supervisor: Elliott Marchant | Faculty: Social Sciences
Best Graduate Research Poster - Naveed Ali
Cash Prize $500
Superdiversity as a Superpower: Honouring IBPOC St in Provincial Literacy Assessment Practices
Supervisor: Paige Fisher | Faculty: Education
Best Undergraduate Infographic - Kiara White
Cash Prize $500
Protect Your Skin: Mineral or Chemical Sunscreen?
isor: Faye Ostergard | Faculty: Arts and Humanities
Best Graduate Infographic - Harleen Kalra
Cash Prize $250
AI-mpowerment: Envisioning Tomorrow’s
Classroom Leaders
Supervisor: Scott Priestman | Faculty: Education
10-minute Presentations
Best 10-min Presentation - Undergraduate
Cash Prize $500
Jackson Busch
For the Love of Hermaphroditus: The Intersection of
Trans Identity and Pagan Spirituality
Supervisor: Dr. Colleen McVeigh
Faculty: Social Sciences
Best 10-min Presentation - Graduate
Cash Prize $500
Anil Sutherland, Devon Manning, Guneet Kau
The Lived Experience Of Those Accessing Social Services In Downtown Nanaimo
Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Hesketh
ement
Best 10-minute Performance
Cash Prize $250
Luci Edwards
Scar Wax - A Poetry Collection
Supervisor: Sonnet L'Abbé
Faculty: Arts and Humanities
Other event-based awards
BestPodcast-AkoredeMoshoodAbiola,BukolaPatani,BejyJoseph, EzekielEkata
CashPrize$250
GoalsPod:AnInterviewwithDayleneonGenderEquality-SDG5
Supervisor:JudithMcIntyre|Faculty:Management
BestRant-MichaelDuddy
CashPrize$500
WordsarelikeBullets
Supervisor:ElizaGardiner|Faculty:ArtsandHumanities
BestPhotography-KashmirLesnick-Petrovicz
CashPrize$250
HisGaze
Supervisor:Dr.MatthewsBowes|Faculty:SocialSciences
BestSLAM-CassandraHartwich
CashPrize$500
ACLInjuries:EverythingYouKNEEdtoKnow
Supervisor:Dr.LouisMattar|Faculty:SocialSciences
BestShortFilm-ChoviThachandBryceWilliamson
CashPrize$500
KhmerDiaspora
Supervisor:AndreaMartin|Faculty:ArtsandHumanities
People’s Choice Awards
During the CREATE week, conference attendees and the general public were invited to vote for their favourite projects in various categories. The cash prize for People’s Choice awards is $100.
Monday Poster - Katrin Hanesson
Time-restricted feeding for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease in the model organism
Drosophila melanogaster
Supervisor: Dr. Elliott Marchant | Faculty: Social Sciences
Tuesday Poster - Mary Hudson
Examining Sex-Specific Variability: Adiponectin Receptor Agonists and Alzheimer’s DiseaseRelated Phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster
Supervisor: Dr. Elliott Marchant | Faculty: Social Sciences
Wednesday Poster - Sara Kishawi and Jasleen Kaur Chhabra
Funding is not as easy as 1, 2, 3...
Supervisor: Dr. Sylvie Lafrenière | Faculty: Social Sciences
Thursday Poster - Lodhir Ashigabu, Vardaan Sachdeva, and Priyanka Thakur
Is ‘Thriving in Action Program’ (TIA) the Key to Academic Achievement?
Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Hesketh | Faculty: Education and Management
Photography - Sara Kishawi and Jasleen Kaur Chhabra
Funding is not as easy as 1, 2, 3...
Supervisor: Dr. Sylvie Lafrenière | Faculty: Social Sciences
Rant - Lodhir Ashigabu, Vardaan Sachdeva, and Priyanka Thakur
Is ‘Thriving in Action Program’ (TIA) the Key to Academic Achievement?
Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Hesketh | Faculty: Education and Management
Interior Design Display - Paige Jorgensen
CRASH Boutique Hotel
Supervisor: Tamara Timbers | Faculty: Arts and Humanities
The Project Pitch
This initiative helps support five student projects go from creativity to innovation by providing $3,000 project grants. The Project Pitch was made possible through generous funding from Coastal Community Credit Union.
Chelsey Watts
Unravelling the Mystery of Bushtits:
Conservation through Genetic Insights
BSc Major in Biology | Supervisor: Eric Demers
Emma Peterson
Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis
helleborine) Orchid and Associated Fungi
BSc Major in Biology | Supervisor: Jasmine Janes
Hayes Evans
Alzheimer’s Disease
BA Major in Psychology | Supervisor: Elliott
Marchant
Joshua Patience
Honorable Harvest of Data
MEd in Educational Leadership | Supervisors: Nicole Davey, Deborah Koehn & Paige Fisher
Lizzy Schafers
Understanding Hosackia pinnata
BSc Major in Biology | Supervisor: Jasmine Janes
The 2024 Project Pitch recipients with the judging panel
Thematic Awards
Pay It Forward Award
Cash Prize $500 ($250 for the student and $250 for the organization)
For the best submissions that partnered with not-for-profit, community organizations or other similar entities.
Nicole Williams and Pacific Megascops
Research Alliance
Influence of moonlight illumination levels on the voc activity of the Coastal Western Screech-Owl on Vanc
Supervisor: Dr. Eric Demers | Faculty: Science and Technology
VIU SRCA Awards
Cash Prize $100 per project
The VIU SRCA (Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity) Award is presented to projects whose scholarship, research, and/or creativity is based on or inspired by a VIU question or project.
Alea Mills
Insights Toward Inclusion: A Case Study Encouraging Disability in Post-Secondary Education
Supervisor: Dr. Jean Maltesen | Faculty: Education - Master of Education in Special Education
Lodhir Ashigabu, Vardaan Sachdeva, and Priyanka Thakur
Is ‘Thriving in Action Program’ (TIA) the Key to Academic Achievement?
Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Hesketh | Faculty: Education and Management
Thematic Awards
Michael L. Warsh Law Corporation Award
Cash Prize $750 + VIU Swag + Diploma Fr Celia Leaf
Women Working In Professional Sports
Supervisor: Dr. Guy Le Masurier | Faculty: Education
This award recognizes outstanding student research. For senior undergraduate students in their last year intending to pursue post-graduate studies.
Social Sciences Award - Jeremy Stehr-So
Cash Prize $500
The Role of Farmer's Markets in Nanaimo
Supervisor: Dr. Juliane Collard | Faculty: Social Sciences
Diversity, Equity and Human Rights Award - Joseline Villar Cesar, Sara Kishawi and Kali Moreno
Cash Prize $250
Palestine: From Settler Colonialism to Genocide
Supervisor: Dr. Sylvie Lafrenière | Faculty: Social Sciences
CREATE Positive Space Award - Rifat Tejani and Jomy Thomas
Cash Prize $250
SOGI Education in Schools
Supervisor: Dr. Kathleen Bortolin | Faculty: Education
Thematic Awards
VIUFA Women and Gender Equity Award - Borna Zargarian
Cash Prize $250
"Is your diet too far for your own good?" Quartermasters and Professionals in Chatelaine Magazine, 1950 & 1990
Supervisor: Dr. Katharine Rollwagen | Faculty: Arts and Humanities
Poet Laureate Honour's Award - Verioska Solano
Cash Prize $100
My Journey to Love
Supervisor: Sonnet L'Abbé | Faculty: Arts and Humanities
All for One and One for All Award
Cash Prize $100 + lunch to each group member
Kylie Shorter, Bella Harwood, Dani
Jacobsen, Amy Cameron, Emily
Radons, Dahlia Laflamme, Nevan
Webb, Jax Gray and Jenna Rodway
Advanced Care Planning in BC
Supervisor: Dr. Caroline Variath |
Faculty: Health Sciences and Human Services
Infographics
Jayabala Jayaram and Siddharth Mishra
Cultural Catalysts: Inspiring Change Through Education
Supervisor: Dr. Kathleen Bortolin | Faculty of Education and Faculty of Management
Thematic Awards
Sustainable Development Goals Awards
Cash Prize $250 per project
Maharajan Alagesan
Exploring the Challenges of People with Mobility Disabilities (PwMD)
in Air Travel in Canada for Leisure Purposes
Supervisor: Dr. Janet Mckeown | Faculty: Management
Katie Temporal
How Tourism and Food Production Can Achieve Global Goals
Supervisor: Dr. Mark Williams | Faculty: Social Sciences
CREATE Keynote Award and Indigenous Book Prize
Cash Prize $500 + selection of Indigenous books
Thisyear, wecombinedtheCREATE2024 Keynote Award and the Indigenous Book Prizetorecognize agroup ofstudents engaged in outstanding work in food security and foodsovereignty forIndigenouscommunities.The Horticulture Class, underthe mentorshipof Christine Quist, developed six different projects onaeroponic production technology, in partnership with the Heiltsuk Nation.Thewhole cohortwas awarded with the followingprojects:
Scaling New Heights With Grow Towers, by Kobe Bosch, Gwen Chapman, Moriah KostamoandRowanRobertson
PlantsGrowPeople,byLarissaKovalenko,StoriPrest,andSierraMcCaffery
Helping Herbs: Cultivating Food Sovereignty through Aeroponic Farming, by Molly Mitchell,AmberBouchard,andLlewynJones
Aeroponic Planning for Fresh Produce, by Sadie Craine, Arnaud Touiller, and Savonah Macleod
Kelp:TheHighwayofLife,byBowenKeay,EliseScafe,andAlexThomas Heiltsuk:LandandSea-Canfishwastewaterbeusedinaeroponictowers?,byPhilip Bourgeois,AshlynnTeasdale,MariaIrene,andPascaleBoles
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a university-wide competition for graduate students in which participants present their graduate work and its impact in 3 minutes or less to a panel of judges. The challenge is to present complex issues in an accessible and compelling way, with the assistance of one static slide.
First Place - Naveed Ali
Cash Prize $500 + VIU Swag + Trip to represent VIU in the Western Regionals
Insights Toward: A Case Study Encouraging Disability in Post-Secondary Education
MEd in Special Education | Supervisor: Jean Maltesen
Second Place - Harleen Kalra
Cash Prize $200
Strategies to Incorporate Artificial Intelligence in Teacher Training
MEd in Educational Leadership | Supervisor: Scott Priestman
People’s Choice - Kathy White
Cash Prize $100
Legally Tripping: Making Psychedelics Legal in Canada
Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Graduate Certificate | Supervisor: Shannon Dames
Are you interested in becoming a CREATE donor?
GREAT! There are many ways to make this happen!
1. VIU employees - $10/pay period makes one CREATE award! Payroll Deduction Pledge Form
Please donate to the VIU Foundation and leave a note in the comment box that it is for CREATE
2. VIU Alumni - consider making a gift back to CREATEyou can even make up an award if you would like!
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3. Have some questions? Please connect with Amanda Greenland, VIU’s Advancement Services Manager