The Winners of IRC’s 5th Anniversary Essay Competition

The Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC) on Wednesday 17^th October, 2012, announced the winners of its first Student Essay Competition, held recently to commemorate its 5^th Anniversary.

This year’s competition required high-school and college students to: ‘Explain why it is important to establish an Independent Regulatory Commission to oversee and regulate the electricity sector in Dominica and how this is of benefit to electricity consumers’.

Public and Consumer Relations Manager of the IRC and Co-ordinator of the essay competition Mara Etienne-Manley says “This contest plays a key role in increasing young people’s knowledge of the work of the Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC), while providing them with an opportunity to nurture their talent for writing.”

A total of 20 essays were submitted, representing seven schools across the island. The participating schools were:

• The Dominica Community High School
  
• The Convent High School
• The Isaiah Thomas Secondary School
• The North East Comprehensive School
• The Dominica Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School
• The Castle Bruce Secondary School
• and the Dominica State College.

Among those were 17 female participants and 3 males.

Finalists were judged on the content, creativity, style, structure and grammar used in their essays.

The three winners of the IRC 2012 Essay Competition are: 1^st Place- 19 year-old Deniane John, a home-schooled student and top island scholar of this year’s GCE A Level exams (First prize- Kindle Fire, a $200 cash award and publication on the IRC website), 2^nd Place- 17 year-old Denzel Guye of the Dominica State College (Second prize- iPod Touch) and 3^rd Place- 18 year-old Nickel Cuffy of the Dominica State College (Third prize- Sony Digital Camera).

The Dominica State College received a special award for having the most participating students.

A prize-giving ceremony was held on Wednesday 17^th October, 2012 at the IRC’s Conference Room.