The 20 finalists of this year’s Citi FM Write-Away Contest are sitting on tenterhooks as the grand finale to announce the winner of the GHC 5,000 prize money gets underway at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel.
The Write-Away Contest is Ghana’s number one literary competition for amateur writers.
This year’s contestants wrote their own short stories, with their own unique characters, that ended with the idiom: ‘A bird in hand is worth two in a bush.’
Speaking at the event, the Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Charles Aheto Tsegah said the Write Away Contest is “the best public contest that is dedicated to building the minds of children.”
Mr. Tsegah praised Citi FM for demonstrating consistency “to drive change.”
“We are not harnessing the potential of our children,” he lamented.
Educationist and Chief Examiner of the contest Hanis Hafar, speaking at the event has charged the Education Minister, through her representative at the event to “erect billboards across the country to encourage children to always read and write.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”JO1wiPDkAfBIWIJNRFCRgKbDTOO1w6I7″]Over the years, enterprising young writers have thrilled audiences with their well researched and written entries, and have been awarded accordingly.
Last year’s winner, Isabella Quaye, making a comment at the even lamented that “our biggest challenge is we do not have reading materials and if they are available, the children do not read.”
This year’s winner takes home GHC 5,000, the first runner-up and the second runner-up will each receive GHC 3,000 and GHC 1,000 respectively. Special awards will also be given to deserving contestants.
The Write-Away Contest is sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank and Indomie Instant Noodles. The contest is supported by Finlite and the Volta River Authority (VRA) and powered by 97.3 Citi FM.
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By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana