I have been reading this forum for the past 2 years with no intentions of signing up. But when I saw your score @LakeGirl, I decided to give it a try. I am so surprised that both of us got the exact same overall average score in the SSHRC Vanier CGS this year except for differences in my case, such as:
Academic Excellence: 7.50
Research Potential: 7.50
Leadership: 7.55
Overall average score: 7.52
Congratulations on winning this highly prestigious scholarship!
And I recommend everyone to try again. In 2018, I applied for the first time and wrote my application while on vacation in Montréal and New York. It got ranked 112th/170+. During the 2019-2020 competition, I dedicated a month to write and revise my application and got several people to read it and give me their feedback and I am glad I was ranked 26th out of 179 applicants, which means that my application was one of the strongest this year. So, I really recommend that everyone tries again and good luck!