Commonwealth 2017 poster, essay winners shine radiantly

DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, March 13, 2018

The winners of Parliament of Guyana’s Commonwealth 2017 Poster and Essay Competition received their prizes and trophies, this afternoon.

The competition under the theme “A Peace-Building Commonwealth” saw entries from participants between the ages of seven and 11, as well 12 and 17.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland congratulated the participants noting that they should view the competition as a step towards the future. Dr. Scotland emphasised that the students needed to ‘go forward” and continue to strive for excellence.

The Speaker said he anticipates more students will participate in the next Commonwealth competition.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rights of the Child Commission, Amar Panday, said that the 24 students who participated in the essay competition demonstrated a considerable amount of knowledge of the history and structure of Commonwealth.  He noted that the judges were also impressed with the students’ opinions on how Commonwealth can better function to build peace within the communities of Guyana.

“We were very encouraged by the submissions and thoughts shown by the participants especially on how Guyana’s children can participate at the level of Commonwealth to generate and contribute peace-building,” Panday said.

Nickecia Browne, a teacher of Patientia Secondary School, said that it was a great opportunity to evaluate the submissions made, especially the use of colours and design applied. She thanked all the students who submitted art pieces, however, from the 90 submissions only eight pieces were selected.

“Due to their youthful understanding of what Commonwealth is, the art pieces portrayed profoundness, harmonious and original concepts of commonwealth… I am pleased and satisfied with your colourful and artistic abilities keep striving and remember an artist is always free,” Browne said.

The winners of the 7-11 group of the essay competition are Abdulsalaam Ally, first, Muhammad Qausim Baksh, second and Serafa Safee, third.  Shannia Persaud took home first place in the 12-17 category of the essay competition.

For the poster segment of the competition, the winners of the 7-11 category are Raul Bacchus, first, Farhan Elmodeen, second and Muhammad Qausim Baksh, third. In the 12-17 group, Kezia Joseph, Adesoma Roberts, and Onsay Grant took third place, Chandra Goberdhan took second place and Rajesh Persaud took home first.

The winners in the 7-11 categories also received book vouchers redeemable at Austin’s Bookstore valuing $75,000, $50,000 and $25,000 respectively while the winners in 12-17 received book vouchers valuing $100,000, $75,000 and $50,000 respectively.

 

 

 

 

By: Neola Damon