Website, Sitemap & Site Architecture

Year 3 (2026) — Information Architecture Plan
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Recommended page structure, URL strategy, and per-page intent for the Year 3 website rebuild.

Last updated 2026-05-14 · Year 3 IA revision

In Review

Sitemap

Top-level routes and their canonical children
Main Nav Top-bar destinations · How to Enter · About · Rules · Showcase · Winners · Blog
Home
Top-of-funnel landing for the main "Enter the contest" CTA.
On this page
  • Hero Winner-led photography + primary CTA
  • No Barriers Open across Canada · No GPA · Any creative format
  • Explainer Video Short overview of the program
  • What is Energy Creates? Plain-language intro for first-time visitors
  • Call to Action Final "Enter the contest" push before the footer
How to Enter
/how-to-enter
Step-by-step guide to entering the contest.
On this page
  • Eligibility Ages 15–25 · Canadian resident · any province
  • Submission Steps Visual walkthrough
  • Deadlines Key dates across the cycle
  • Format Requirements What we accept · how to prepare
About replaces /scholarship
/about
What the contest is, why it exists, who runs it (Musterpoint Productions), and the judging panel.
On this page
  • What the Contest Is Mission, what makes it different
  • Why It Exists Origin story
  • Who Runs It Musterpoint Productions
  • Judging Panel Folded from the old /scholarship/judges page
Rules
/rules
Official contest rules. FAQ section at the bottom — spins out into its own page if it grows.
On this page
  • Official Rules Eligibility, conditions, terms of entry
  • FAQ Common questions · grows here until big enough to spin out
Showcase Gallery
/showcase
Filterable grid of all student submissions. The Winners page handles editorial story-led content separately.
  • Student Page /showcase/[student-slug] · canonical shareable URL
  • Category Filter /showcase/category/[category-slug] · Animation · Painting · Film · Digital Art · Photography · Poetry · Dance · Music · Fashion · Games
Winners Editorial
/winners
Story-led page about past winners — year by year. Distinct from Showcase: this is the editorial home with full profiles, not the filterable grid.
  • Winner Profile /winners/[student-slug] · name · province · year · medium · quote · project · video interview (planned)
  • Year Archive /winners/year/[2025] · evergreen suffix pattern
Blog replaces /media
/blog
Updates and news about the contest. Editorial posts, press, and announcements.
  • Category /blog/category/[slug]
  • Post /blog/[post-slug]
Other Linked Pages In the footer or linked from elsewhere · not in the primary nav
Awards
/awards
The annual award show. Calgary · Oct 8, 2026.
  • Year Archive /awards/year/[2026] · evergreen suffix pattern
System Not in nav · account, shop, localization, legal
Account
/account
Student login. Hosts contest progress, the quiz, and the submission step on the same domain.
  • Dashboard Next-step CTA and progress
  • Quiz Required before submission unlocks
  • Submit Replaces the old Thinkific portal
Shop Post-launch
/shop
Merch store. Launch timing TBD.
  • Product /shop/[product-slug]
  • Cart
  • Checkout
Localization & Legal
Bilingual mirror plus required legal pages.
  • French Mirror /fr/* · full translation
  • Terms /legal/terms
  • Privacy /legal/privacy
Parked / Future Deliberate IA decisions to defer · not in this cycle
Documentary Parked
/documentary
Removed from the primary nav for this cycle. Revisit if/when documentary content scope is defined. Page may still exist for legacy URLs but not surfaced in nav.
Resources Post-launch
/resources
Directory of other scholarships, comparison pages, and creative prompts. Built after launch when there is bandwidth.
  • Scholarships Directory Other scholarships catalogued for SEO
  • Compare scholarships/[slug]-vs-energy-creates
  • Creative Prompts Starting ideas for entries

Per-Page Intent & Primary CTA

One commit per page · audience-led
PageAudiencePrimary CTASecondary
/Students (primary)Enter the contestView the Showcase
/how-to-enterStudents (pre-signup)Create an accountView the Showcase
/aboutAll · prospective entrants · pressEnter the contestView the Showcase
/rulesStudents · parents · educatorsEnter the contestHow to Enter
/showcasePublic · studentsEnter the contestBrowse by category
/showcase/[student-slug]Public (shared)Create an accountView more in showcase
/showcase/category/[category-slug]Public · studentsEnter the contestView all submissions
/winnersPublic · press · prospective entrantsEnter the contestBrowse the Showcase
/winners/[student-slug]Public · pressCreate an accountView other winners
/awardsPublic · pressWatch the award showBrowse the Showcase
/blogAllSubscribe / Enter the contestBrowse categories
/blog/[post-slug]AllEnter the contestRelated posts

Guiding Principles

Foundational rules for every URL and template
1.1

Evergreen, Canonical URLs

No /2025/... paths. Every page lives at a stable URL that accumulates backlinks year over year. Year-specific content lives at /.../year/[2025] as a suffix, not a prefix.

1.2

Three Funnels, Three Surfaces

Today the site speaks mostly to students. Year 3 needs distinct entry points for students (Enter the contest), educators (Get the classroom pack), and press / partners (Download press kit). Marketing landings should drop people directly into their funnel.

1.3

Mobile-First

Hero and primary CTA must work on a 375px viewport. The 15–25 demographic is mobile-dominant.

1.4

On-Domain Consolidation

Bring the contest portal (currently competition.energycreates.com / Thinkific) onto energycreates.com/account. The custom submission platform replacing Thinkific is being built for the consolidated domain. Consolidates SEO authority, removes a context-switch in the funnel.

1.5

Full French Parity

A /fr/* mirror, not just the study guide PDF. Quebec and CEGEP outreach is hard with an English-only site.

1.6

Simplified Entry Process

The signup → quiz → submission flow must be reducible to 1-2-3-4 steps maximum. This is a hard constraint on the rebuild, not a stretch goal.

Technical

Old URLNew URLReason
/competition-rules/scholarship/rulesUnify under Scholarship section
/media/blog/category/pressMedia becomes a blog category
competition.energycreates.com/*energycreates.com/account/*Consolidate to one domain
/2024/* (if any)/.../year/[2024]Evergreen URL convention (suffix pattern)
Action item. Spider the live site for the full list of public URLs and add a 301 for every one before launch. The four rows above are the known structural redirects; the long tail will surface from the crawl.
A meaningful share of "what Canadian scholarships exist?" queries already happens inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews. Those answers are sourced from structured, well-marked-up pages.
Page TypeSchemaWhy
Homepage, /scholarshipEducationalOccupationalProgram, FundingSchemeCanonical "this is a scholarship program" signal
/scholarship (FAQ section)FAQPageDirect AI Overview / featured snippet eligibility
/scholarship/judgesPerson (panel members)Judge bios surface in name searches
/showcase/[student-slug]CreativeWork (with author, dateCreated, genre)Helps showcase items rank for student/medium queries
/awards, /awards/year/[2026]Event + BroadcastEventAward show as a discoverable event + broadcast
/resources/scholarships/[slug]Scholarship (or MonetaryGrant)Long-tail directory ranking
Comparison pagesItemList of Scholarship + ArticleHigh AEO value for "[X] vs [Y]" queries
/blog/[post-slug]Article, NewsArticle for press postsStandard editorial signal
/documentaryMovie or VideoObjectDocumentary surfaces in video results

Other AEO Essentials

  • Clean, semantic HTML (<article>, <section>, <nav>).
  • Descriptive <title> and meta description per page.
  • One <h1> per page, hierarchical <h2> / <h3>.
  • OG and Twitter card metadata on every public page (especially showcase and winners).
  • sitemap.xml listing every public URL, including showcase and winner pages.
  • robots.txt that allows public content and blocks /account/*.
  • Fast Core Web Vitals: LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1.

The bilingual study guide PDF already exists. Year 3 should extend French to the full site:

  • /fr/ mirror at the URL level.
  • Hreflang tags on every page (<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-CA" ...>).
  • Localized OG content per locale.
  • French CTAs and email sequences, not just translated body copy.
  • Targeted CEGEP outreach with French-first landing pages.

Showcase as the Centerpiece

Best organic acquisition asset on the site

Instagram-style scrollable gallery with individual canonical pages per submission. Format is locked.

What Every /showcase/[student-slug] Page Needs

  • Stable canonical URL.
  • High-quality OG image — ideally the artwork itself, with an Energy Creates logo overlay.
  • Student name, year, medium, province (with consent).
  • Clear "Share to Instagram / TikTok / X / Copy link" affordances.
  • "Inspired by this? Enter the contest" CTA at the bottom.
  • Related submissions carousel.
  • Google-indexable (confirmed requirement).
Sharing flywheel. Every entrant has friends, family, and a network. If sharing their work is one tap, every submission becomes free promotion. This is the cheapest top-of-funnel channel the program will ever have, but only if URLs and OG images are right.

Past Winners as Homepage Hero

Surface past winners beyond /showcase. They are the strongest "this is real" signal on the site.

  • Rotating winner-led hero banner on / (photo, name, province, amount won, link to their work).
  • Winner photo + quote near the primary CTA on /scholarship (especially the "How to Enter" section).
  • Past-winner thumbnails in account-creation success and submission-confirmation flows.
  • Winner photo at the top of in-cycle emails.

Asset prerequisites: high-quality photos of winners with their work, plus written multi-year usage rights.