The Hon. Nigel Clarke, DPhil., MP, is Jamaica's Minister of Finance and the Public Service and is Member of Parliament for St Andrew Northwestern. ...
Ms. Darlene Morrison is currently Jamaica’s Financial Secretary. As Financial Secretary, Ms. Morrison is the technical and administrative head of the Ministry of Finance and the Pu...
The Hon. Marsha Smith, MP was born and raised in the parish of Saint Ann. She was educated at Brown’s Town Primary School, Westwood High School, Brown’s Town Community College, the...
The Access to Information Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister invites High School students in Jamaica to participate in its annual National High School Essay Competition.
Topic: “The Access to information Act (2002) is playing a significant role in improving accountability and transparency in Jamaica.” Discuss
Period: September 28, 2016 – January 31, 2017
Launch: September 28, 2016
When Due: January 31, 2017
Award of Prizes: Winners will be announced in the month of February, 2017. Prizes will be awarded in March, 2017.
Who: All Registered High school students.
Purpose: This contest is sponsored by the Access to Information Unit and the Access to Information Advisory Stakeholders Committee and is designed to give Jamaican youth the opportunity to become more aware of the Access to Information Act (2002)
Essay Length: 1600-1800 words typed and double-spaced. (Title, footnotes and bibliography are not included in the final word count).
How to Enter: Entries must be sent to:
Access to Information Unit,
5-9 South Odeon Avenue, Kingston 10
Phone: 968-8282
Fax: 926-9491
Email: ati@cwjamaica.com
Prizes: The essay competition will award first, second and third place winners with $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000 respectively. The winners will also be presented with ATI Unit Trophy, ATI Advisory Stakeholders Committee Trophy and ATI Association of Administrators Trophy.
Judges: A panel of at least three judges but no more than five judges will be selected. It will comprise representatives of the ATI Stakeholders Committee, Access to Information Association of Administrators, the ATI Unit and any other judge as decided by the ATI Unit.
Essay Contest Rules
A double-blind scoring system will be used to judge essays submitted. This system is designed to make the process of judging as easy and impartial as possible.
The following system will be used to judge the essays:
How well does the essay reflect a thorough comprehension of the issues involved in the essay topic?
Does the argument follow a logical and easily understood progression? Does corroborating evidence support the essay’s main points?
Use of diverse resources, including interviews; Creative angle on the issue
Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, concise language.
Compliance to format and length rules
Total Points = 100 points
6.1 Essays will not be returned. They become the property of the ATI Unit. The Unit may reprint essay in part or in full and use as it deems necessary. Credit will however be given to the author.
6.2 The administration of the contest including determining the eligibility of a participant or essay, standard of essays and awarding of prizes is within the absolute discretion of the ATI Unit.
6.3 The ATI Unit assumes no responsibility for loss, delayed or incomplete entries as a result of postal delays or technical malfunctions.
First-place: ATI Trophy and $50,000 cash
Second-place: ATI Advisory Stakeholders Committee Trophy and $30,000 cash
Third-place: ATIAA Trophy and $20,000 cash