Darcy Grossinger has summed up the territory in six words: Remembering our Past, Embracing our Future.

Grossinger has submitted the winning entry in the motto contest that was hosted by the Whitehorse branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

“It really is an honour,” Grossinger said Thursday of having his entry selected.

It was his only submission to the contest – one he came up with while he was sitting at the Legion with friends.

Shortly after thinking of it, he grabbed an entry form, scrawled down his idea and submitted it, not really giving it much subsequent thought, he said.

So when he was informed his idea had won, it came as a surprise.

“I was kind of stunned,” he said.

His victorious entry came out of the ever-present history that is so much a part of the territory he loves, while also noting the Yukon is moving forward.

“Our history, we’re surrounded by it,” Grossinger said.

While the Yukon’s history should be recognized, he noted, it also needs to be clear the territory is not stuck in the past.

The Legion announced in February it was seeking entries from current and former Yukoners for a territorial motto it hopes to see formally adopted by July 1, 2017, marking the nation’s 150th birthday.

The contest is similar to the one the Legion hosted on the design of the territory’s flag.

As Grossinger noted, that contest had been aimed for the country’s centennial in 1967, but the approval process took so long, the flag was not adopted until 1968.

This time around, Legion officials have allowed plenty of time for the motto to be adopted and approved in time for July 1, 2017.

Meanwhile, Yukon MLAs voted Wednesday to consult on the proposed motto.

Depending on what comes out of that consultation, it would then be sent off to the Governor General’s heraldry office in Ottawa to be translated into Latin and formally labelled as the territory’s motto.

The contest saw a total of 184 submissions come in from areas all over the country.

“It went Canada-wide,” local Legion president Joe Mewett said Wednesday’s announcement.

A team of judges was made up of well-known, long-time Yukoners: former mayor, commissioner and senator Ione Christensen, artist Jim Robb, Rendezvous’ 2016 Mr. and Mrs. Yukon Sam and Kelly Johnston, and the Legion’s Darryl Kormos.

They were provided with the entire 184 entries (not knowing who had submitted each one) and asked to choose their top five.

The judges were to base their decision on a number of criteria .

Those included being identifiable with the Yukon and easily understood; descriptive and reflective of the territory; showing originality and meaningfulness; and being inspirational and motivational.

A numbering system was used to ensure the judges would not know who was behind each entry.

After reviewing all of the submissions and selecting their top five, the judges came together to discuss their primary choices.

“It took about 30 seconds and we had our winner,” Mewett said of the short discussion among judges. They had all selected #1604 as their top choice – Grossinger’s “Remembering our Past, Embracing our Future.”

The second-place entry was also a fairly easy choice for the team.

Judges selected # 1634 – Isabelle Bouffard’s “Vast land of legends and promises” was quickly chosen.

MLAs praised the proposed motto while approving the consultation on it with other levels of government first.

The Yukon and the Northwest Territories are the only two jurisdictions in Canada without a motto.