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Creative Writing Competition for Youth

Creative Writing Competition for Youth

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Jamaica has a rich history of world-class writers including Claude McKay, Roger Mais, Andrew Salkey and Sylvia Wynter, to name just a few. Their writing has shaped generations of creatives.

Here at Good News Jamaica, we are advocates of empowering and enabling our youth to use their talents in positive ways. So, you can imagine how pleased and proud we were to hear that there is currently a Covid-19 Children’s Writing Competition open to entries for Jamaican children aged between 8 – 12 or 13 -17 years old who have a passion and flair for writing.

Tell us more

I sat down with the chief adjudicator, Mr Luke Williams recently and had a chat about the competition and how we can encourage our children to pick up their pens while socially isolating. Go on, spread the word. Submission to the contest closes at the end of June 2020 with the competition results being announced by email by mid-July 2020.

Creative Writing Competition | Give the Youth A Voice | Good News Jamaica

A Brilliant Opportunity!

The competition is a fantastic opportunity for budding writers to showcase their work. Competitors will be pleased to learn that in addition to having their writing featured globally, the winner and the runners up will also receive cash prizes.  The following poster has useful information.

And the Judges Are

There’s a distinguished and highly acclaimed group of judges as you will see below:

  • Chief Adjudicator and founder of the competition, Luke Williams is the London news correspondent for RJR, an actor and Head of Media Studies at the Central Foundation Girls’ School. Correspondingly, with a Master’s degree in Communication, Luke is hoping to help young people to hone their communication skills. Another critical point is that as a teenager, he was a three-time winner of the Jamaica Social Development Commission’s writing competition. Carrying the 2012 Olympic torch, solidified his recognition as an inspiring educator. The honour came in the identification of his work in the teaching of English Language and Literature. 
  • Dr Denise Jarrett is an Assistant Professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. She focuses on Postcolonial Caribbean Literature and Ethnic and Cultural Studies. Subsequently, Dr Jarrett also taught the English Language and Literature to high school students in Jamaica for over ten years. She then transitioned to Higher education.
  • Canute Lawrence has been a language and literature teacher for over three decades at the elementary, secondary and tertiary levels. Lawrence is a former member of the Jamaica Pantomime Company. With this in mind, he believes in encouraging our children to be more engaged in creative writing as they find their voice. 
  • Dr Mark Pitterson Is principal of BKW Secondary School in New York. He is a specialist in English Language and English Literature. Dr Pitterson believes every child has a story to tell and needs to be provided with an opportunity. Every story is worth our attention.

How can you get involved?

Here’s Mr Luke Williams telling us about the competition and how we can get involved:

Creative Competition

We encourage all of our readers to spread the word by sharing this article. Get the children involved that you know and help us to get as many of them writing as we can. If you are over 18 years old, donate. We encourage you to donate to the cash fund prize via the Go Fund Me page. Click to donate:

If you have any other queries or wish to communicate with the organisers, please email creativecompetition@outlook.com

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