Mr Oluchukwu Ezeali, the Ebonyi Commissioner for Project Monitoring and Evaluation, has sponsored an essay competition for facebook users in order to ease the COVID-19 lockdown boredom.
Ezeali, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, said that the competition was held on the facebook page of a journalist, Paul Okah.
He said that the competition, which started on April 27, with the caption “2020 P. Noble Writing Competition”, had 18 participants, who wrote stories on the topic “My COVID-19 lockdown experience.”
The commissioner said that after thorough assessment, three participants emerged as winners of the competition and were rewarded with cash prizes.
He listed the three winners to include Miss Ezeali Blessing, Miss Oluchukwu Josy and Mr Chijioke Ekumaoko, who emerged first, second and third place winners, respectively.
“They were awarded cash prizes of N10,000, N7,000 and N5,000 for their respective positions. The prizes are just to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The main objectives of the competition were for participants to develop literary skills, kill boredom, educate and enlighten readers and possibly earn little prizes, regardless of the trueness or otherwise of their stories,” he said.
Ezeali said that the beneficiaries should see the opportunity as a sign of better things to come, especially under Governor David Umahi’s leadership.
He urged them to improve their writing skills by effecting the corrections on some of the errors identified by the judges in the course of editing their stories.
“To all the participants, I say you braced it to show your literary skills and you should be celebrated, regardless of whatever error that led to your missing out on the top three, even as I look forward to more participation in subsequent editions,” he said.
Aside the top three, the commissioner said that other participants were also awarded consolation prizes of N1,000 airtime each for their efforts. (NAN)
