On September 24th, Jeff Stinco represented the Simple Plan Foundation at the annual presentation of the GRIS/Simple Plan Foundation prize, which is being awarded to deserving young students, who invest their own time and efforts in demystifying homosexuality and fighting against homophobia.
“This annual competition encourages young people to create projects to fight homophobia in their school. Thanks to these projects, they become real agents of change in their environment and it is fantastic to see that it happens even in primary schools.”
– Jeff Stinco –
This year, the award went to three young students – Maïté, Zéna and Éléonore from the Rose-des-Vents primary school in Montreal, Canada, who wrote and illustrated their own story of a trans character called Alexandra. For their extraordinary effort to help fight not only homophobia, but also transphobia, the three girls received a $2000 grant from GRIS Montreal and the Simple Plan Foundation.
Just like every year, Jeff Stinco was there to award this prize to the deserving winners. Check out how he later praised Maïté, Zéna and Éléonore’s efforts:
“I’m proud (my smile may be giving it away) of the prize I awarded today as the spokesperson for the Simple Plan Foundation – GRIS Montreal and the Simple Plan Foundation partnered a few years ago to built a program to inspire kids from elementary or high school to build and present a project that demystifies, opens dialogue and/or educates about diversity within LGBT communities. This year, the recipients of the Gris/Simple Plan Foundation prize were students from the Rose des Vents high school in MTL. Zéna, Eléonore and Maïté presented a beautiful short story to their fellow schoolmates about young Alex who accepts his uniqueness and allows himself to become Alexandra with the help of an open minded friend, a sex ed teacher and his parents. It’s a well written story filled with smart facts about the LGBT communities and about acceptance. Way to go girls! Now, run with the chèque and get a book deal!”
– Jeff Stinco –
You can find out more about the GRIS/Simple Plan Foundation prize here and make sure to head over to our gallery now to check out all the pictures of Jeff’s presentation of this award on Monday:
