The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), publishers of the Junior Graphic, has launched the 2019 Junior Graphic National Essay Writing Competition in Accra.
This year’s competition, which was open from March 18 to May 29, 2019, is on the theme: “Reading widely, writing right: Key to excellence”.
At a ceremony in Accra that saw some children recite poems and display placards on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the acting Director of Education at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Ghana, Ms Yvette Malcioln, who launched the competition, said Ghana needed strong and convincing young writers to tell their stories about their communities and families and write editorials that would provoke rich dialogue.
She said it was for that reason that the USAID was supporting the GCGL in helping children to be able to write.
Ms Malcioln commended the GCGL for coming up with the essay competition and expressed the hope that it would motivate young people to read and write in order to make the country an educational power house.
Read widely
The Deputy Director, Public Affairs of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, urged schoolchildren to do extensive reading of good materials in order for them to perform well academically.
She pointed out that chief examiners’ reports from WAEC had always pointed out the need for students to improve on their vocabulary because they had limited use of vocabulary, making them to sometimes resort to the use of pidgin English and misspelling.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe encouraged the children to participate in the essay competition and do independent work because that would reflect in their work during examinations and eventually help them pass without cheating.
Your rights
The Editor of the Junior Graphic, Mrs Mavis Kitcher, explained that this year’s competition was meant to build on what was done the previous year, explaining that this year the newspaper was not only looking at academic excellence but also how to assist children to acquire a wealth of knowledge which would help mould their character and make the world a better place in the future.
“We are asking you about your rights which we have talked about a lot in the Junior Graphic, what you know about the Sustainable Development Goals and how your ideas will help us live in a society which is peaceful and without inequalities,” she said.
Mrs Kitcher, who is also the acting Director, News at the GCGL, encouraged children to make their voices heard through writing, adding that that was why the Junior Graphic was offering them that opportunity through the competition to make their ideas and views known to all in society.
Future leaders
The Technical Advisor (Innovation and Private Sector) at the Office of the President at the SDGs Unit, Ms Leticia Browne, commended GCGL for focusing on the SDGs in the essay competition, adding that it would connect the children, who are the future of the nation, with the goals.
The Business Development Manager in charge of Ghana, Togo, Benin and Liberia of BIC, Mr George Nkonsah, thanked pupils and students for making the BIC brand a leading one in the country and globally.
The 2019 Junior Graphic National Essay Writing Competition is sponsored by Twellium Industries, BIC, TLM Ghana, the Cocoa Processing Company, the SDGs Advisory Unit of the Office of the President and the Ghana Library Authority.
