GWI awards winners of World Water Day competitions

The winners of the competitions pose for a photo with GWI’s Managing Director, Dr Richard Van West-Charles (centre) and the judges. (GWI photo)
The winners of the competitions pose for a photo with GWI’s Managing Director, Dr Richard Van West-Charles (centre) and the judges. (GWI photo)

Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) on Monday announced the winners of its poster and essay competitions in observance of World Water Day 2019.

Thirteen-year-old Christian Narayan of the Good Hope Learning Center won the 1st place prize of one bicycle for his poster entry. The 2nd place prize of one tablet went to 12-year-old Maleah Pollard of Queen’s College while the 3rd place prize of school supplies was copped by 13-year-old Bibi Bacchus of the Good Hope Learning Center, GWI said in press release. The competition ran from March 4-18.

“Happy habits for our Watersheds” was the topic of the poster competition and contestants were required to depict activities such as fishing and aquaculture, swimming, bird watching, hiking, kayaking, environmental research and organic crop farming, according to the release.

The age category for this competition was between 6 and 13 years old and submissions were uploaded on GWI’s Facebook page. Entries with the most likes were shortlisted and further judged based on relevance to topic and Guyana, clarity and visual impact without explanation, creativity and aesthetics, as well as originality, the GWI release added.

In the essay competition, the topic was “Discuss the impact of improper waste disposal in the watershed on aquatic life and water quality.” This competition was open to persons between the ages of 14 and 18 years old and whose essays were required to have a word count of 300 to 400 words.

Eighteen-year-old Diego Barnett of Queen’s College won the 1st place prize of a $50,000 gift certificate for his essay entry. Fifteen-year-old Zaleena Salim of the Good Hope Learning Center copped the 2nd place prize of a $30,000 gift certificate while 17-year-old Sophia Wilson of Port Kaituma took the 3rd place prize of a $15,000 gift certificate.

GWI said that submissions were judged based on originality, relevance to topic and country and research.