Nigerian Emerges Second Overall In Commonwealth Writing Competition

By chika okeke
April 1.

A Nigerian, Mrs Ngozi Razak-Soyebi from Zamani College, Kaduna, KadunaState, has emerged the second overall winner
(teachers category) in the Commonwealth Class Story Writing Competition for Teachers, beating others from over 52 Commonwwwealth countries across the world.
The overall winner is a teacher from India while the third overall winner, Caroline Picking is a teacher from the United Kingdom.
This is even as Nigerian teachers emerged top 10 in the competition that received over three thousand entries from both school children and teachers from the Commonwealth countries with the theme, “Belonging”.
The teachers are Mrs Olamide Aluko from American Christian Academy who emerged 6th position with her story, ‘Mojisola’; Peter Brown from Thomas Adewumi International College Oko, Kwara State won the 8th position with his story, ‘Belonging’ while Mrs Vera Obiakor from Government Secondary School, Kubwa Abuja won the 9th position with her story, ‘Belonging’.
Commonwealth class is a programme brought together by the British Council and the Commonwealth secretariat to celebrate values of the Commonwealth, connect schools and young people across the world on joint learning programmes.
The fascinating winning story of Razak-Soyebi, “There’s Always a First Time” depicted struggles of an abandoned street child in Nigeria.
In her address, the director of Programmes, British Council, Mrs
Louisa Waddington said that the council is supporting schools who have expressed interest in joining the Commonwealth class project to participate in global online debates related to the commonwealth values as well as writing competitions for teachers and students.
She noted that the shortlisted entries were adjudged by the former
Children’s Laureate and multiple awards winning British Author, Anne Fine and British Council’s Arts department adding that the council’s previous involvement in commonwealth class projects has supported teachers and students who were part of the winning group that watched the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.