Young Journalist of the Year competition

With a view to encourage students to think creatively and critically about issues affecting modern society, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the British Council and The Independent is organising the Young Journalist of the Year competition.

This builds on previous joint initiatives in this field, most notably Le Prince Maurice Literary Award.

The participants are required to write a 800 word article on interesting topics such as tsunami, gender parity, social networking sites, climate change and classroom of the future. This competition targets mainly Form VI students and entries are encouraged from state, private and French-medium schools.

“The British Council is delighted to be involved in this competition. It gives us an opportunity to nurture young talent and promote creative writing in English,” said Dawn Long, country director of British Council.

The response from the secondary schools across the island has been positive.

A large number of students from Droopnath Ramphul Secondary State School, Calebasses, have sent applications.

“We have received over 100 entries for the competition,” stated Dahmiantee Beeharry-Panray, rector of the college.

Interesting prizes including a one-week placement at The Independent, a laptop, English language course at British Council or book tokens will be awarded to the winners and runners-up. The submission deadline is May 16.