The Tribune

TEMPLETON World Charity Foundation (TWCF) launched this year’s Bahamas Laws of Life Essay Competition with a focus on the impact of Hurricane Dorian, along with a new logo and website.

At www.bahamaslawsoflife.org, students, teachers and parents can easily find resources related to the 2020 essay competition with submission due January 25. This competition is one of the largest in the Bahamas and offers national recognition and financial prizes, in addition to the opportunity to build creative writing skills. The much anticipated award ceremony is slated for June 11.

Open to students across the country in grades five to 12 and for college students age 25 and under, there are five divisions: primary, junior, senior, college and a video division.

This year’s competition topics are centred around students’ experiences with Hurricane Dorian - the Category Five storm that made landfall in the northern Bahamas on September 1, 2019, leaving widespread destruction and loss of life on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama.

“Misfortunes can be blessings” is the overarching law for this year’s competition and students are encouraged to draw on their knowledge and experiences related to Hurricane Dorian as they reflect on this law and write their essays. In doing so, the competition is seeking to promote empathy, thoughtfulness, tolerance, and charity in our students and promote the reinforcement of these ideals.

Now in its 13th year, the competition is a public-private collaboration between the TWCF and the Ministry of Education. Wenley Fowley, assistant director of education, Ministry of Education said that the competition has exceeded all expectations. “It is a known truth that in the Bahamas, creative writing or student writing has been always been a sustained challenge. And so, this partnership in respect to Laws Of Life and the essay writing competition is indeed a God-send.”

President of the Templeton World Charity Foundation Dr Andrew Serazin asked the teachers and principals to encourage students to apply, and to write essays that reflect on what is important to them. He said the Bahamas Laws of Life Essay Competition is one of his favourite events among the more than 250 projects the foundation supports around the world.