BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - Carly Gon is ready for fireworks.

This Canada Day, for the first time in her life, the 18-year-old from Behchoko will watch them on Parliament Hill, thanks to her sense of Canadian identity and artistic flair.

Carly Gon's poster depicts a Canadian flag in the shape of a map of Canada, the Olympic rings, a horse-riding Mountie, the Peace Tower and an inukshuk, all to represent the theme "with glowing hearts." It was chosen out of 130 works as the NWT finalist in this year's Canada Poster Challenge. photo courtesy of Carly Gon

Gon, a Grade 12 student at Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School, is this year's Canada Day Poster Challenge finalist for the NWT. Her poster was chosen out of 130 other NWT students' drawings for a trip to the capital along with 12 other posters from students in each province and territory.

It depicts a Canadian flag in the shape of a map of Canada, the Olympic rings, a horse-riding Mountie, the Peace Tower and an inukshuk, all to represent the theme "with glowing hearts." Gon said she worked on the poster for two weeks as an art project for class, doing a first, second and third draft before deeming it ready for submission in February.

She didn't think she'd actually win the contest – in fact, by the time she found out she'd won two months later, she'd forgotten about the whole thing.

"I just got into school and on the intercom they said, 'congratulations, Carly Gon,' and I was like, 'for what?'"

Drawing comes easily to her, she said, along with playing soccer and the guitar.

"It runs in my family. My dad's an artist – he'll paint. I get my talent from him," she said. "I'm just excited to go to Ottawa."

After she finishes up her last couple of high school credits, Gon plans to become a teacher and return to her community to teach physical education. Currently, the elementary school in Behchoko doesn't have a phys-ed teacher.

"We need more people to teach in the Tlicho region," said Gon.

She is set to leave for Ottawa later this month to participate in Canada Day celebrations.

The national winner of the poster challenge is 15-year-old Allison Forseille from Saskatoon, Sask., whose poster will be distributed across the country as part of the Celebrate Canada campaign for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.