Paul Gross, who directed and acted in the war film Passchendaele, received the Pierre Berton Award Friday. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean presented awards on Friday to seven Canadian history teachers as well as to actor Paul Gross and to writer Ian McKay for their efforts in promoting Canadian history.

The annual Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History was held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

The ceremony honoured teachers who made learning history fun for students by incorporating film, dramatic re-creations, and comic books into their lesson plans.

Gross received the Pierre Berton Award for his 2008 film Passchendaele, about one of the major battles in the First World War.

Other Berton Award nominees this year included University of Western Ontario historian Jonathan Vance, documentary filmmaker Holly Doan and CBC Digital Archives.

He described winning the award as a "complete surprise" and "particularly significant" because it came from Canada's National History Society.

McKay, a writer and history professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., was presented with the John A. Macdonald Prize for his latest book Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People's Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920.

Among the educators being honoured was Neil Robinson, a seventh grade teacher from Calgary who was tasked with teaching his students about European exploration of Canada.

Robinson invented a role-playing game inspired by two popular board games, Settlers of Catan, and Risk. Students used a wall-sized board and simulate trading with First Nations, hunting for riches, and drafting land treaties.

Another educator being recognized was Michel Marcotte, a fifth and sixth grade teacher from Saint-Adelphe, Que., who got his students to star in their own documentary film that explored the formation of modern Quebec.

Marcotte's students examined the important laws, acts, wars, and political figures that played key roles in Quebec's development.

Comic books as teaching tool

Some teachers frown upon reading comic books in class, but Lindsay Hall, a high-school teacher from Woodstock, Ont., relied on them as a teaching tool.

Hall encouraged 10th-grade history students to read comics, watch films, and play video games about the Second World War to teach them how to evaluate the reliability and historical authenticity of the sources.

Other winning teaching strategies included simulating Parliament Hill-style question periods in the classroom to debate controversial laws, and presenting a showcase with songs and stories about Alberta's cattle ranching history.

The Gov. Gen's Award comes with a $2,500 cash prize, a gold medal and a trip to the ceremony. The recipients' respective schools are also given $1,000.

Gross, who is also known for playing RCMP officer Benton Fraser in the television series Due South, said he admired the dedication of the teachers and related to their desire of engaging young people with history.

Passchendaele, he said, was inspired by the stories his own grandfather, a veteran of the First World War, passed down to him.

"First and foremost, I did try to make a movie people would enjoy," he said. "But beyond that, there was this secondary kind of interest in trying to make [history] relevant to youth today."

When Gross was asked how he'd do as a history teacher, he joked that he'd be "appalling," especially compared to Friday's recipients.