The Great Canadian Search for a New National Motto has come to a close. Many thanks to those of you who took up the challenge. From the hundreds of entries received in the Geist office and at Basic Black (Arthur Black’s Saturday morning show on CBC AM), our judges have settled on a shortlist of new mottos that will be translated into Latin and then forwarded to the appropriate Parliamentary Committee. The Judges also determined that the Best of Show Award (which includes a subscription to Geist, a Geist coffee mug, and a smoked salmon gift box from Something Fishy Salmon Gifts in Victoria) should go to the author of:

Our Home on Native Land

BEST OF SHOW

The Best of Show Motto was submitted by Joanne Harrison and Jane Henry’s Latin students at the John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph, Ontario. Congratulations, students! Your prizes are in the mail!

And here is the Short List:

My Name is Canada and I’m a Recovering Country
—A.A. Perry, Los AngelesFrost Warning in Effect
—Tobie Mainwaring, CalgaryFrom C to C-—Julio Lozano, ThornhillTwo Dozen Solitudes
—Patti Ryan, VancouverWe Got Da People, We Got Da Plan—Patrick Francis, North VancuverNeeds Some Assembly
—Carol Dijo, Nova ScotiaHalf an Hour Later In Newfoundland
—Margaret Werden, Waterloo, and Lorna Lang, OttawaE Pluribus U.I.C.—Andy Racine, YarmouthTwenty-seven Million Served—Joel Fransen, RichmondDivided We Stand
—Kendal McKinney, WindsorSemper Perplexis—Ted Rickard, Toronto