KINGSTON, Jamaica — In an effort to deepen awareness among Jamaican students about the importance of sustainable development, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has initiated a programme that will see youngsters vie for the title of Junior CEO for the Day through a video storytelling competition.

NEPA is inviting high school students to participate.

The inaugural programme was launched recently at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel as part of activities to mark National Environmental Awareness Week and the agency’s 25th anniversary as an executive agency.

It is intended to inspire the next generation of Jamaicans to be responsible environmental stewards and will be implemented alternatively within secondary schools in 2026 and primary schools in 2027.

In a recent statement, NEPA indicated that the decision to alternate the programme between primary and high schools is aimed at ensuring that students at all levels are engaged and sensitised on the importance of developing the nation in a responsible and sustainable manner.

The student selected as this year’s Junior CEO for the Day will be afforded the opportunity to shadow the agency’s leadership team, participate in exclusive environmental experiences, and represent youth voices on sustainable development issues.

The agency said the video competition seeks to capitalise on the energy and passion of the current generation’s aptitude for digital technologies by challenging their creativity to produce engaging content that represents their views on sustainable development.

The video should be three minutes in length and the student’s image should feature no more than 60 seconds of the time. Additionally, the video should highlight the student’s creativity in utilising digital tools, visuals, narration, graphics, and other storytelling techniques to communicate their message.

The video storytelling contest requires each school to host an internal competition to select the best student video to represent their school in NEPA’s national competition.

Only one entry per school will be accepted. NEPA will then select the winning entry from among the submissions from the various schools to be the Junior CEO for 2026.

Participants in the video storytelling competition stand to benefit from cash awards of $25,000, $50,000 and $75,000 for third, second and first place winners respectively with the latter benefitting from a host of other prizes as the Junior CEO. The election of winners is slated for October 2026, and the winners will be announced during Youth Month in November 2026.

The agency says the Junior CEO initiative forms part of NEPA’s ongoing commitment to youth engagement and development.

In giving his address at the launch, NEPA’s CEO, Leonard Francis stated that “it is important that we mentor those who are coming after us…we need people to invest in them”.

He argued that the aim was to “always have a cadre of young minds to replace us”.

To this end, he said that arrangements will be made for the student selected as NEPA’s Junior CEO to make courtesy calls on various stakeholders in the field of sustainable environmental management.

Persons requiring additional information about NEPA’s Junior CEO for the Day programme as well as details on the rules of the video storytelling competition can do so by visiting NEPA’s website at https://www.nepa.gov.jm/nepa-junior-ceo-day; or scan the QR code.