The 9th edition of the Citi FM Write-Away Contest has been launched. The Write-Away Contest seeks to help improve children’s affinity for writing and by extension reading through engaging thought provoking contest topics.

The launch, which came off at the Alsyd Academy – Dzorwulu, saw hundreds of school children, parents and stakeholders in attendance.

Speaking at the launch, the Programmes Manager of Citi FM, Jessica Opare-Saforo explained the rationale behind the event.

“Some may wonder why Citi FM is dedicated to doing this year after year. It is simply to help highlight, hone, nurture and develop writing skills and creativity in children. Our efforts also seek to complement what is taught in the classroom in fun and exciting ways. Our belief in the family unit, spurs us on to organise such competitions which foster family cohesion and teamwork through the mere nature and dynamics of the contest,” she said.

The Contest:

With great success chalked in the past, Citi 97.3 FM has once again decided to offer a mouth watering cash prize. The Ultimate Winner this year will walk away with a GH¢5,000 cash prize, with the 1st and 2nd runner ups walking away with GH¢3,000 and GH¢1,000 respectively.

The 2014 writing campaign will involve exciting school engagements to select schools in the greater Accra Region, a one month official writing phase where children are given the chance to pit their thoughts, writing skills and creativity against that of other children across the country and a grand awards ceremony to award and celebrate the overall best.

Children who would want to participate must write a story with their own fictional characters in not less than 600 words that ends with the idiom “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”

Completed entries must then be posted to THE WRITE-AWAY CONTEST, P.O. Box GP 14123 Accra Central by the 1st of August 2014. Entries can also be submitted to the front desk of Citi FM, behind the Adabraka Police Station, Accra.

Speeches:

Mr. Anis Haffar, an educationist and one of the key examiners of the competition encouraged the pupils present to be avid readers and diligent writers. He shared key things that will increase their chances of winning the competition.

“You have to read all the time, and those of you who want to be writers have to read what the great writers write. Also, there are two words you need to be familiar with: cognitive and affective,” he said. The Manager of Brands and Marketing of Standard Chartered Bank, Asiedua Addae urged the students to participate in the competition to add value to themselves.

“For us as Standard Chartered we are not only interested in those who bank with us, but we are interested in the communities in which we operate. We are very excited to be part of this partnership this morning because we are interested in children and their literacy skills. We want you to read and be better future leaders.”

She went on to admonish the children to inculcate habits that will benefit them both now and in the future. She introduced a product, My Dream Account, encouraging the children to also inculcate the habit of saving in addition to the habit of reading.

The General Manager of Finlite, Maxwell Kyei – Baafour also urged the pupils and the teachers present to continually read and test themselves. According to him, reading builds the capacity of individuals and all must strive to read extensively to acquire the knowledge needed to be functional in this modern world.

Ewurabena Hagan, a former winner of the Write-Away Competition shared her experience and encouraged the students of Alsyd Accademy to participate in their numbers.