Seven students at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels were recognised for outstanding essays, posters, and photographs at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) 2025 Heritage Competition Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, February 17.

This year’s competition was staged under the theme ‘Honouring Our People, Protecting the Future’.

Danash Brown of West Indies College Preparatory School in Manchester captured the first-place prize in the essay category. Second- and third-place awards went to Kahiel Stewart of Kensington Primary School and Jonathan Clark of Stella Maris Preparatory School, respectively.

Winners in the digital poster category are Alayna Elliott and Bryce Wilson, both of Campion College, in the grades 10-13 and grades 7-9 divisions, respectively.

Brian Levy of York Castle High School secured first place in the illustrated poster category for grades 10-13 students, while Shante Sinclair of the University of Technology earned first place in the photo category.

Winners and other top performers were presented with trophies, vacation packages, gift certificates, laptop computers, and cash prizes.

In her address during the awards ceremony held at Summit Kingston, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Rhoda Moy Crawford lauded JIS for the 15th staging of the competition.

“For more than a decade, JIS has been providing a credible platform that allows our young people to express themselves through the arts. Thank you for providing this avenue that enables our young people to express themselves… to research, to reflect and to grow,” she said.

Crawford also commended the awardees, urging them to sustain their creativity, originality, and discipline as they continue along life’s journey.

“Know that the skills you have developed in competition are life skills. You have also reminded us that young people are not only participants in Jamaica’s story. You are authors of Jamaica’s next chapter,” Crawford said.

Acting chief executive officer of JIS Celia Lindsay, in her opening remarks, stated that the competition represents one of the ways the agency fulfils its responsibility to promote informed national engagement, particularly among young Jamaicans.

She noted that in previous years, schools in western Jamaica dominated the competition, but in 2025 the entries and awardees reflected a broader cross section of parishes.

“This achievement is encouraging to the JIS, as we are intensifying our efforts to engage more young people through relevant, innovative and exciting strategies to become more informed about policies and programmes of the Government of Jamaica, as well as the values and norms that make our small country ‘little but tallawah’ in the whole global village,” Lindsay said.

She added that JIS is honoured to celebrate the talent, tenacity, courage, and curiosity of all entrants.

“This year’s entries reflected that participants researched their topics. They demonstrated that they have research capabilities and, of course, that they’re very, very comfortable with the digital technologies,” Lindsay said.

The JIS Heritage Competition, launched in 2011, aims to engage students on Jamaica’s national development, culture, and achievements.

Among this year’s sponsors were the Universal Service Fund, Sandals Resorts International, Innovative Corporate Solutions, First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union, Domino’s, Margaritaville, and WB Trophies.

— JIS