UWI, St Andrew High students top NHT essay competition
MELISSA Clue and Shani Mortley emerged winners of the National Housing Trust’s (NHT’s) 35th anniversary essay competition, which attracted the participation of more than 200 students.
The duo submitted individual essays for the two categories of the competition — one for students aged 17 to 21 and the other for students 13 to 16 years old.
Clue, 19, a student of the University of the West Indies, submitted an essay on the topic ‘Matching needs, means and dreams: The home ownership challenge in Jamaica’. For her efforts, Clue walked away with $100,000 and the first-place trophy for the students in her category.
“It’s a wonderful and rewarding experience. I am very happy to know that I won,” Clue told Career & Education following her victory, announced last Tuesday at NHT’s head office in Kingston
There were 98 others in contention for the top place which Clue won. They included Zaneta Scott of the University of Technology and the sole male awardee Romoyne Watson who were selected for second and third place respectively.
For his submission, Scott walked away with a cash prize of $50,000 and a trophy while Watson received $25,000 and a trophy.
Mortley, who scored the highest in the category for 13 to 16 year olds, wrote on the topic ‘Owning a home: The plan begins now’. The St Andrew High School student was awarded $50,000 and a trophy.
“I feel blessed and honoured to know that I was chosen out of almost 100 persons,” said Mortley, 16, who was selected the winner from a field of 102 students.
Davia Smith of Westwood High School and Nkechi-Ann Porter of Campion College were named the second and third-place winners respectively in that category.
Smith received a trophy along with a cash prize of $20,000. Porter was awarded a cash prize of $10,000 and a trophy.
Honorary mention was made of essays submitted by Abigail Smellie of Bishop Gibson High School and Lisa-Lee Barnett of St Catherine High School. Their submissions caught the attention of the judges and only just missed out on being in the top three from their category.
The NHT’s 35th anniversary essay competition opened on March 15, allow students a month within which to write and submit their pieces. In May, the entries were judged by a team of educators and organisers of the competition.
