The Book O’Clock essay competition, which was addressed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has a female student from Holy Family School named Owuda Winifred as the top winner.
A literary organization called Book O’Clock held an essay contest, and 42 entries from 15 Sokoto State schools were submitted. Essays on the subject of “If the President Could Read Me” were requested from secondary school students in Sokoto as part of a contest to mark the organization’s third anniversary.
The essay competition’s main goal was to give students a forum on which to voice their opinions on the issues they believed the new President should give priority to, especially those that impacted Nigerian children.
The contest was open for submissions from May 1 to June 9, 2023. All entries were reviewed and evaluated by a panel consisting of past winners of the Nigeria Prize for Teens Literature, namely Mujahid Ameen Lilo, Pacella Chukwuma-Eke, and Isah Aliyu Chiroma.
The judging criteria included content, expression, organization, and mechanical accuracy, as mentioned in a document made available to gistreel.
During the award ceremony held on Monday, June 26, 2023, three winners were announced after the initial 42 entries were shortlisted to six through an on-the-spot writing exercise.
Owuda Winifred claimed the first-place prize, receiving a cash award of N50,000. Additionally, Obi Treasure from Royal Comprehensive School and Abdulrazak Ummusalma from Blue Crescent School were awarded the second-place and third-place prizes, respectively, with cash awards of N30,000 and N20,000.
Expressing her joy at winning the contest, Winifred said;
“Being the winner of the Book O’clock Anniversary Prize was exciting and remarkable. The competition was an amazing experience. I want to thank everyone who made it a success.”