The National Accreditation Council (NAC) recently awarded the two winners of its inaugural essay competition.
During a ceremony, which was held in the Boardroom of the NAC’s Bel Air Park offices, prizes were also given to the two runners-up.
The competition was aimed at raising public awareness about the council’s work, particularly in the arenas of secondary and tertiary education. By participating, the 40 contestants who took part in the competition had an opportunity to understand the NAC’s role in the education system and were able to better their writing skills, according to the Chairman of the NAC, Vincent Alexander, who spoke at the award ceremony.
The competition consisted of two categories: one for the secondary level participants (15 to 17 years), who had a word limit of 1500 to 2000 words, and one for tertiary level participants (18 to 30 years), who had a word limit of 2500 to 3000 words.
The judging criteria included the correct use of grammar, expression, organisation of thoughts, evidence-based arguments, and, correct citation of sources.
In the secondary category, Kendra Trotman, of Bishops’ High School, won the $50,000 prize for her essay on “Lifelong learning is critical for personal and community development in the 21st century global world.” First runner-up Jewel McCurchin, of Diamond Secondary School, won a Kindle Fire Tablet for her essay on the same topic.
In the tertiary category, Chakada Ralph was awarded the $100,000 first place prize for her essay on the topic “Given the demand for 21st century skills, how should educators of post-secondary and tertiary institutions prepare their students for a diverse, global workplace?” Athena Prentice, who wrote on the same topic, was awarded the second place prize of a Samsung A20 Cell Phone and Bluetooth Speaker Prentice was not present at the prize giving because she had an exam to sit.
According to McCurchin, who will be writing CSEC next year, she has developed her skills in writing and was able to acquire knowledge on her topic through research as a result of her participation in the essay competition.
NAC communications specialist Suelle Williams said that out of the 40 contestants, 30 of them were tertiary-level contestants. Asked about the disparity, she said that she believed that the tertiary-level contestants would have had the time and better understanding or experience to participate in the competition. She also said that the NAC hopes the prizes will be put to good use in relation to the winners’ education.
