After a great deal of thought and discussion, RMC has decided to retire the Ben Wicks Award in favour of making room for other diversified contests and awards for youth. As the company and its educational resources continue to grow and expand, we are excited for the new ideas and possibilities ahead.

RMC came to know Ben Wicks through his wife Doreen Wicks (Nurse, Citizenship Judge and Member of the Order of Canada as of 1989) and her humanitarian organization "GEMS OF HOPE" in the early 1990's.

Ben Wicks (Cartoonist, journalist, illustrator and Member of the Order of Canada as of 1986) was a vivacious man who strongly advocated children's educational programs, starting several reading and literacy programs along with Doreen; namely I.can Foundation, Born to Read and Little Libraries. He enthusiastically illustrated RMC's publications for 5 years before his passing in 2001.

After consulting with Doreen, we decided to establish "The Ben Wicks Award" in his honour, a program to give 3 different artists an opportunity each year to showcase their talents in one of our publications and receive a $10,000 award to use to further their education and career.

We have been privileged to be able to award 27 very talented artists with this honour, totalling well over a quarter million dollars over the years. Each artist has gone on to successfully practice his or her craft, some attributing credit to their Ben Wicks Award win for giving them their start.

With the expansion of our books to websites and free ipad apps, we fondly say goodbye to the Ben Wicks Award and look forward to making room for other opportunities to engage and encourage the youth of our communities to participate and develop their talents in positive directions.

We proudly leave you with the profiles of Ben Wicks and the 27 winners of the award created in his name.