JIS Awards Students in Heritage Competition

The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) has awarded 21 students for outstanding essays, posters and photographs submitted in the 2017 staging of the agency’s Heritage Competition, which was held under the theme ‘How would you like to see Jamaica in another 55 years?’.

These students were awarded on Monday, November 27, at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge in St. Andrew, during the annual JIS Heritage Competition Awards Ceremony.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the JIS, Mrs. Donna-Marie Rowe, congratulated the awardees and encouraged them to continue aspiring for greatness through their individual talents.

“The youngsters really showed that they understand the events that impact us as a country. They also were able to articulate for us their dreams and their vision for Jamaica. They took the courage to submit the entries and we’re very happy with the quality that we received this year, and our judges said they were very pleased with the outcome,” Mrs. Rowe said.

Among the 21 students, three emerged overall winners in the categories of the competition. They were Jaida Lalor from George Headley Primary School in Kingston (Essay); Akeem Plummer from Belair High School in Manchester (Poster); and Sarah-Fay Buckland, University of the West Indies, Mona (Photography).

Jaida was very excited about being the winner in her category, as her sister, Jhanel Lalor, a student at Campion College, won in the same category in 2015.

“I was very excited and I was happy. My inspiration was the people I see on the streets when I go to school every day, so I joined the essay competition to write about how I would want to see Jamaica in the future,” Jaida told JIS News.

Unlike Jaida, who expected to win, Akeem did not expect his victory, given that he was entering the competition for the very first time.

When asked by JIS News how he prepared his poster entry, he said based on the photo [and] resources that were given, “I looked at the pictures that meant the most to me, like pictures from areas such as track and field, our heritage sites, our achievements, and I composed those based on my interpretation of the theme ‘Jamaica 55’.”

Unfortunately, Sarah-Fay, winner of the photo category, was absent from the awards ceremony.

Gianne Willie, another student from George Headley Primary; and Janelle Ellis from Praise Tabernacle Christian Academy, placed second and third, respectively, in the essay category.

Zarri-Ann Baugh from Ardenne Extension High School and Aliyah Wright from Manchester High School came second and third in the poster category.

Lamar Salmon from The Mico University College and Janielle Lyn placed second and third in the photo section of the competition.

The annual JIS Heritage Competition’s essay category targets children at the primary level who are between nine and 12 years old. They are required to write between 400 and 500-word pieces on a specific theme.

The essays were judged based on the relevance to the topic, originality, accuracy and analysis of research data, writing style and language skills. At least one of the references should have been made to a JIS source.

On the other hand, the poster competition was open to students in grades seven to 13 at a registered secondary school. They were required to design an 11×17-inch poster digitally or by illustration depicting ‘Jamaica 55’. Posters were judged on interpretation of the topic, originality, neatness and presentation.

Meanwhile, the photographic competition targeted students attending an accredited tertiary institution. They were required to submit a high resolution quality photograph depicting Jamaica 55. Entries were judged based on originality, composition, technicality and impact.