Sorel-Tracy Teen’s Artwork Travels the World

Myriam Charland Wins Second Place in ArcelorMittal’s 2014 New Year’s Card Contest 

CONTRECOEUR, December 12, 2014 – When she submitted her drawing for ArcelorMittal’s annual New Year’s card contest, Myriam Charland had no idea that her artwork would be seen around the world. It will now happen because the picture drawn by the 14-year-old from Sorel-Tracy will be one of the three printed cards that the company’s international senior management will use for their year-end greetings. Myriam’s illustration ranked second out of 28 finalists based on a vote by ArcelorMittal employees worldwide.

Since 2009, ArcelorMittal employees’ children, aged 6 to 14, have entered the global annual New Year’s card contest. Hundreds of drawings have been produced worldwide in the various communities in which ArcelorMittal operates. Here is how the contest works: a winner is selected at each business unit, then for each country, and the national winners are entered in the international finals. Myriam’s drawing was selected among submissions from the various ArcelorMittal Montreal plants, then chosen as the best drawing from all ArcelorMittal’s Canadian operations (mining and steel). She then represented Canada among the 28 global finalists and obtained the second-highest number of total votes. In addition to the honour of seeing her drawing printed this year on official ArcelorMittal cards everywhere in the world, Myriam received a monetary prize at each stage of the competition.

Myriam is the daughter of Pierre Charland, an employee at the Contrecoeur-East steelworks. Her drawing is very appropriate for this year’s contest theme, “Steel protects our world”. She highlighted the role of steel in transporting many things, including a Christmas train, and in protecting the people who come across these structures. The other winning cards came from children of ArcelorMittal employees in the Ukraine and Romania.

Myriam Charland, a third-year high school student at École secondaire Fernand-Lefebvre in Sorel-Tracy, said that she was “very happy” with this honour. “The contest theme was very inspiring,” she added.

“ArcelorMittal Montreal already has a reputation within ArcelorMittal as a world-class steel producer. Now we have an internationally renowned artist among the children of our employees!” said Sujit Sanyal, Vice President, Operations. “On behalf of our company, I would like to congratulate Myriam for her achievement that will go beyond our borders.”

About ArcelorMittal Montreal

ArcelorMittal Montreal’s (montreal.arcelormittal.com) mission is to safely manufacture sustainable steel in accordance with its values of health and safety, quality, leadership and sustainability. The company employs about 1,750 people in 11 facilities in Contrecoeur, Longueuil, Montreal, La Prairie, Hamilton and Ottawa. It operates three scrap-metal conversion and recycling centres, one iron-ore reduction plant, two steel plants, three rolling mills and two wire drawing mills. The group has an annual production capacity of over 2 million tons of steel and generates economic spinoffs of more than $1 billion per year.

ArcelorMittal Montreal is part of ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading integrated steel and mining company, with a presence in more than 60 countries. 

Photo caption: Pierre Charland, Myriam’s father and an employee at the Contrecoeur-East steelworks, with Myriam and Sujit Sanyal, Vice-President, Operations, ArcelorMittal Montreal.