Students scoop Commonwealth essay contest awards

(CNS): Seventeen students from government and private schools have received prizes for winning the 2013 Commonwealth Essay Competition, organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS).  Nine of the students were international competition winners that judges selected from among 11,000 entries from 55 Commonwealth countries and territories.  The theme for both the local and international segments was Opportunity through Enterprise. Five students from St. Ignatius Catholic School received international recognition including two gold awards, one silver and two bronzes. St Ignatius also took home the Elliott cup. Layman E. Scott High School earned one gold while Cayman Prep and High collected two silvers and a bronze.

The winners were: Taurean Cox – St. Ignatius Catholic – senior bronze and Elliott cup winner;
Aniela McGrath – St. Ignatius Catholic School– junior gold;
Abijith Anu – Layman E. Scott High School, Cayman Brac – junior silver;
Matilda Copley Kyne – St. Ignatius Catholic School – junior silver;
Finn Lovegrove, Rishaa Patel and Zephan Deosaran – all from Cayman Prep and High School – junior silver; and Arjun Dhanasekar and Isha Rankin – St. Ignatius Catholic School – junior bronze.

In the local competition, George Town Primary School (GTPS) won three gold awards and a silver award. Red Bay Primary (RBPS) received two silvers while John Gray High earned a silver and Prospect Primary one bronze.

 Local winners were: Senior silver: Oneka Thompson – John Gray High;
Junior gold: Alec Harding, Leah Robinson and Joshua O’Garro – all GTPS;
Junior silver: Makeda Harris – GTPS; Matthew Leslie and Philip Mathura – RBPS;
Junior bronze: Alexander Thompson – Prospect Primary.

Presenting the awards at a reception that she hosted for the winners, parents, teachers and local organisers on Thursday, 27 March 2014 at Government House, Governor, Helen Kilpatrick said that the students should feel justifiably proud of these accomplishments.
MLA Winston Connolly praised the young people for their accomplishments, and thanked the RCS for providing them with an opportunity to hone their creative writing skills and individual talents. He exhorted the winners to continue to work hard to further develop their abilities.