Ministry of Finance Employee Wins NFA Logo Competition

Administrator at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Danielle Barnes, is the winner of the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) logo competition for its new information system – IrieFINS

The selection of a logo advances the NFA one step closer to the roll-out of its new online licensing and registration system.

The winning design will be used online, in print, and on all merchandise for IrieFINS.

The competition, organised by the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU), was open to all public sector employees.

Ms. Barnes took home a laptop for her winning design, which was among 51 entries received from 15 participants.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the TIU’s Saxthorpe Avenue office in Kingston on Tuesday (February 21), Executive Director of the entity, Maria Thompson Walters, thanked Ms. Barnes for participating in the competition.

“To design a logo that represents a transformative activity means that you are interested in transformation. So, thanks for your interest and for sharing your talent with us. This [logo] is absolutely amazing,” Ms. Thompson Walters said.

The NFA and TIU are collaborating to implement the new fisheries licensing and registration system.

Stakeholder applicants can expect a reduction in the processing time for licensing and registration under the new system.

Persons will also be able to track the status of applications and download licenses to their smartphones.

Meanwhile, Principal Director of Fisheries Compliance Licensing and Statistics at the NFA, Dr. Zahra Oliphant, said through the logo competition, a face has now been created for the soon to be implemented system.

“We are very grateful that the project has allowed us to do that. It is so nice to see it (logo), and I can imagine it splashed across the pages,” she stated.

Ms. Barnes, in explaining her winning design, said she did a lot of reading on the NFA, and decided that the use of a fish would best represent the NFA and the IrieFINS system.

She said the cultural connection attached to the system’s name also inspired the colours used in the design.

“Irie is something that represents Jamaican culture. So, I thought ‘why not put the fish in gold, black and green’,” Ms. Barnes informed, adding that the lines around the fish represent energy.

Ms. Barnes further expressed her delight in winning the competition, describing the feeling as “indescribable”.

The IrieFINS system is expected to be implemented at the NFA later this year.