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SANIKILUAQ
When Nuiyak School principal Lisi Kavik made a public address announcement earlier this month, her news overwhelmed those listening: the school had won $10,000 and 365 books from a contest run by Indigo bookstores.

"The whole school erupted in cheers," said teacher Gerda Westenenk, recalling the day the school got the call. "It was very exciting. It was a huge celebration here at the school. We were screaming, crying, cheering, laughing."

The prize came the week of Oct. 7, after months of hard work to win the Adopt-a-School contest, which invited Indigo customers to support schools across Canada. Visitors to the company website could buy a $25 gift card for themselves and the school would get a book, or they could donate $12 to buy a book for the school, or they could vote for the school for free. In the end, the schools with the most support went into the top 10, and from those, Nuiyak emerged triumphant.

"Although it was difficult to choose just one winner, we were inspired by the commitment of the Nuiyak community," Indigo Love of Reading Foundation director Jennifer Jones said in an e-mail. "We are confident that they will be tremendous stewards of their $10,000 prize and First Book Canada book donations, transforming their library and continuing to encourage literacy and a love of reading in the community for generations to come."

Teacher Nicole Wutke praised the community for pitching in an additional $4,000 through fundraisers.

"We really feel it was just a big community success," she said. "The community has been overwhelmingly supportive. I want people to realize when we work together, look what can happen."

"We felt we deserved (to win), and the kids have worked hard - we've all worked hard - to get this," said Westenenk, a Indigo customer who learned of the contest from a company promotional newsletter. "For years there wasn't a functional library, just classroom libraries. So we're able to take back our library.

"The kids knew about it (the contest), and they were really excited about it," she said. "We've been tracking where the donations and adoptions have been coming from, and they've been coming from Canada and the world. We had adopters in Japan and France."

The prize will be used to transform the existing library, a classroom with a couple of shelves and tables loaded with outdated, worn out books. With 365 new books - about three for each of the school's 129 students - and $10,000 for new shelving and furniture, Wutke and Westenenk expect the library to become a point of pride in the community.

"It's a dream come true for me," said Wutke. "I've been trying to get the library functioning since last year when I first arrived in Sanikiluaq. I have all these visions and I can actually make them happen."

The Grade 5/6 teacher wants to see high-interest, low-level reading books for the school, which houses kindergarten to Grade 6 classes. The goal will be to fill the shelves with culturally-relevant titles, she said.

"There is a large collection of books being published in Nunavut," she said. "Amazing stories and beautiful illustrations of the Inuit history and culture. We hope to have a balance of English and Inuktitut books in the library."

Other schools entering the contest do not walk away empty-handed. The other top 10 finishers won 50 books and the books donated by their supporters.

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