Students of the Bishops’ High School and St Gabriel’s Primary School were this week presented with prizes as the winners of the Amazonia Poetry Competition were finally revealed.
Organized by Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Samantha Henry with permission from the Ministry of Education, the competition was held in observance of World Biodiversity Day 2016, which was celebrated in May.
According to a release issued by Henry, the objective of the competition was creating a medium for raising student awareness of the environment through the expression of the appreciation of a species of wildlife found in the Amazonia Region while nurturing literacy.
The poetry competition was open to students at the primary level and Grade Seven students at the secondary level and also saw the participation of students from Queen’s College, and St Stanislaus at the secondary level and Duke Edwards Primary and Marian’s Academy at the primary level.
Walking away with the first place prize for the secondary level was Sarah Dhanraj of the Bishops’ High School, while Solomon Cherai of Queen’s College and Durand Daly of St. Stanislaus College placed second and third respectively.
Meanwhile, at the primary level first place was awarded to Jade Thompson of St Gabriel’s, followed by Tamara Lowe of Duke Edwards Anglican in second position.
Judges of the competition included Chairman of the National Library Committee Petamber Persaud, Gem Rohlehr of Queen’s College, Ms Barker of St Stanislaus College and Henry.
Meanwhile, presentation of prizes to the winners took place between July 1 and 8, during the General Assembly at the winning schools.
Henry extended gratitude to Gillian Frank of the Ministry of Education Department of Culture, Youth and Sports, Austin’s Book Services, the Book Foundation, Paulette Paul of the University of Guyana’s Public Relations Office, Office of the Health and Safety Manager University of Guyana, Dr Karen Boyle of Eureka Medical Laboratory Incorporated, Trophy and Engraving World and Peace Corps Volunteer and Rotarian Dr Dough Hall of the Dominion Rotary Club of San Antonio Texas, USA for donations.
