Former astronaut and federal Liberal candidate Marc Garneau was on hand at St. Matthias' Church on May 5 when the Montreal branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society honoured the winning students in the Quebec section of its annual essay competition.

Entitled Write Around the World, the century-old annual competition is a global educational project that encourages the awareness of ethical and humanitarian values among students 18 and under. In Canada, the four age categories of essays are judged at the provincial level, and winning entries are then passed onto the nationals. From there, the best Canadian entries are judged against those from other Commonwealth nations around the world.

In this year's local competition, in Class A (16 to 18 years), first prize went to Jenna Ditto of ECS, second to Lawrence Angel of St. George's, and third to Susanne Forbath of ECS.

In Class B (14 to15 years), first prize went to Julia De Benetti, second to Jacqueline Hanna, and third to Elisabeth Belansaran, all of Centennial Regional High School.

In Class C, (12 to 13 years), first prize went to Brandon DiPerno of Selwyn House, second to Jasmine Lau of ECS, and third to both Stephanie Pang, also of ECS, and Georgia Therriault of Sacred Heart School.

In Class D (under 12 years), first prize went Scott Baskin of Hebrew Foundation School, second to Ashley Messias, also of Hebrew Foundation School, and third to Bhavish Beevan of Selwyn House.