WATERLOO, ONT. – More than 400 entries for the annual Skills Ontario pin and medal design contests were received and the winning two have now been announced.
This year, the winning pin design was created by Catarina Shanhan-Alcatara, a Grade 12 student at Saint Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. The winning medal design was created by Anna Ngo, a Grade 9 student at Cathedral High School from the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board.
The designs by Shanhan-Alcatara and Ngo will be inspiration for the 2026 pin and medals that will be handed out during the 2026 Skills Ontario Competition on May 4 and 5 at the Toronto Congress Centre, explains a release.
Each winner will also receive a plaque to recognize their accomplishments at the Skills Ontario Competition Closing Ceremony on the morning of May 6.
“I designed the pin for the Ontario Skills Competition and I’m really excited to see something I created be part of such an amazing event,” said Shanhan-Alcatara, founder of the charity No Peanuts Please, a youth-led initiative that raises awareness for anaphylaxis through community education, school outreach, fundraising and local business partnerships.
The Skills Ontario Pin & Medal Design Contest takes place each September and encourages students in high schools (Grades 9-12) or colleges/training delivery agents in Ontario to submit a custom design based on the theme of the skilled trades and technologies, the release explains.
The pins and medals handed out at the Skills Ontario Competition have been inspired by student designs since 1992.
“As part of a longstanding tradition, pin designs from the Skills Ontario Competition are traded with other competitors during national and international competitions as part of a giant pin exchange,” the release adds.
Started in 1989, the Skills Ontario Competition is the largest skilled trades and technology event in Canada featuring over 75-plus contests for elementary, secondary, post-secondary students and apprentices across the province.
