Cash awards of D5,000.00 (Five Thousand Dalasis), D3,000.00 (Three Thousand Dalasis), and D1,000 were handed over to winners of the just concluded forGambia Essay Writing Competition at the TANGO building in kanifing. Two other students were each given D1,000 for coming close to winners.

European Union Ambassador, His Excellency, Attila Lajos, Lawyer Abdoulie Fatty, D.A Jawo, Nyang Nyang were among the dignitaries handing over the awards to the students on Tuesday, September 8^th 2020. A special transportation service was contracted to transport students to and from their towns in The Gambia.

Lamin Jobarteh of the University of The Gambia won category 1 and was handed a cash stack of D5,000.00 and a Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Student Award of Excellence. Category 2 winner, Abdou Jawara of Muslim Senior Secondary School was handed a stack of D3,000 and a Rev. J.C Faye Student Award of Excellence.

Jeam Sarr of the University of The Gambia and Fatoumata M. Jawara of Presentation of Mary Basic Cycle School came as runners up for categories 1 and 2 respectively. They each went home with D1,000 cash. The essay writings were all done on the spot!

Free transportation and free meals were provided for the students on the essay writing day as well as the award ceremony day. Essay question for category 1 was: “Every rainy season, Gambians suffer the muddy streets and stagnant water along the roads. Write an essay, describing what you will do to solve this problem if you become president.”

Essay question for category 2 students (High schools and middle schools): “Write an essay, explaining what government can do to create more employment opportunities for Gambian youths.” No student was given these questions before the competition day.

Category 1: Winner is Lamin Jobarteh (UTG) and runner up is Jeam Sarr (UTG). Baboucarr F. Jammeh (Gambia College School of Education) is 3rd best and Bakary Dibba (Gambia College) as 4th best.

Category 2: Winner is Abdou Jawara (Muslim Senior Secondary School), second Fatoumatta M. Jawara (Presentation of Mary Basic Cycle School) and 3rd is Binta Ceesay (Kanifing East Upper Senior Secondary School). The award ceremony was chaired by Mr. Abdoulie Jammeh of the U.N.

We will be holding more of these kinds of competitions with more cash prizes for Gambian students. We will also decentralize the location so that those students who registered from the provinces, but couldn’t arrive in the Kombos on time will be given equal opportunity.

We fully understand that not every good student is a good writer. So, perhaps there were many good students in The Gambia who could not participate due to pressure. We applaud the confidence of all those who took the courage to sit and write on a topic on-the-spot.

We thank European Union Ambassador, Attila Lajos, Hon. D.A Jawo, Nyang Njie, Lawyer Abdoulie Fatty for inspiring students of our beloved country. Each of these delivered inspiring speeches to the crowd on Tuesday. Due to Covid restrictions, we couldn’t wait for a longer registration period.