13-year-old Nana Afia Okyerewaa Ntim has been crowned winner of the 2015 edition of Citi FM’s national essay writing contest , ‘Write Away Contest.’ Nana Afia, a student of the East Airport International School in the Greater Accra region takes home GHC 10,000.
An elated Nana Akua , after receiving her award said: “I feel blessed and I feel really happy and proud of myself. I thought I was not going to do it but I just gave it no thought and went for it and here I am.I won and I really feel good about that.”
The first runner up, Mansa Adwedaa from Ridge Church School will take home GHC 5,000 while the second runner up , Nana Aba Bentsi-Enchill from Faith Montessori School will be given 2,000.
The winners would also walk away with hampers from the sponsors to spur them on.
The ‘Write Away’ Contest is an annual national writing competition open to pupils and students within the age bracket of 10 to 14 years. Past winners have had opportunities to go on a week’s educational trip to a foreign country where they were exposed to other cultures, and learning environments OR have had amazing opportunities to win a huge sum of cash as their prize monney.
This year’s contest required children to write a story which contained more than 600 words that ended with the phrase: ‘But Alas! When Elephants Fight, It Is The Grass That Suffers’. Over 1,500 entries were received this year.
Educationist and Chief Examiner of the contest Annis Hafar, said about 20 finalists were initially shortlisted and made to go through a vetting process to defend the essays they had written.
“We selected the top twenty and engaged with the young people to make sure they did the work and for them to tell me how they did the work. I was very enthused. They tell you the struggles they had to go through, how they developed the characters, how they developed the setting, and it was very fulfilling.”
The Educationist also emphasized the need for teachers in the public schools to nurture their students to participate in subsequent contests.
“…We have to make sure that the next time around we get as many of the regions to participate as possible.The kids in the public schools are just as good as any and what they need now is a bit of training from teachers, a bit of traning from the heads themselves and also the moral support.”
Participants in this year’s contest were made to write their own short stories, with their own unique characters which ended with the phrase “But Alas! When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”
Top Ten finalists in no particular order
The top ten finalists are below
Christabel Hammond – East Airport International School
Betty Isabella Boamah – Atropolis
Nana Afia Okyerewaa Ntim – East Airport International School
Agbeleze Catherine Zatornam – Redco M/A 1 Primary School
Craig Setor Nafrah – Queensland International School
Mansa Adwesaa – Ridge Church School
Hannah Yeboah – Beacon School
Antoinette Esenam Akuamoah – Akosombo Internal School
Nana Aba Bentsi-Enchill – Faith Montessori School
Cecilia Antoinette Asmah – Mary Mother of Good Counsel
Sponsors for the 2015 Write Away Contest are: Juvita, Students Loan Trust Fund and mihomework.com.
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana