Competitions & Programmes

2022 POSITIVENAIJA ESSAY COMPETITION

The 2022 PositiveNaija Essay Competition aims to promote: the relevant communication mechanisms between the Nigerian President and the Nigerian People; the social contract of good governance; responsive leadership; Nigerian patriotism; impactful scholarship as well as serve as a platform for excellence!

Title of Essay:

THE LISTENING NIGERIAN LEADER!

Objective:

Inform the world on the ways the Nigerian President genuinely listens to the Nigerian people towards achieving the principles of good governance today.

Eligibility:

• Essay submissions are free – at no cost to the participants
• Open to all persons of any nationality
• Participants and winners of the previous PositiveNaija initiatives can still participate
• PositiveNaija Team and the Advisory Judges are not eligible [excluding the Volunteers – who have no involvement in the organisation of the Event]

Essay format:

• Maximum of 1,500 words (excluding references).
• At the beginning or end of the essay, state only your full names, nationality, email and telephone number(s).
• Must be submitted in both MS Word & Portable Document format (PDF).

Essay expectations:

• One (1) essay submission per person.
• Must be original, no plagiarism and not previously published.
• The competition language and the language of entries is English.
• Truth, logical consistency, facts with reliable references, narrative structure/organisation, creativity/initiative.
• Once an essay is submitted, it is considered a final submission and may not be modified, edited, or replaced.

Reward [cash prizes]:

• 1^st prize: ₦70,000
• 2^nd prize: ₦50,000
• 3^rd prize: ₦30,000

Reward [certificates]:

Top 10

Reward [publication]:

• 1^st position: Essay is published as the ‘Foreword’ in the 2022 PositiveNaija Series
  
• 2^nd – 10^th positions: Essays published in the 2020 PositiveNaija Series
  
• 1^st – 10^th positions: Essays are published weekly on the website.

Timelines:

• Submission dates by participants: July 1 – 31, 2022 (SEE ANNEX 4 for status of entries).
• PositiveNaija review and submit Top 10 best entries to Advisory Judges: August 1 – 9, 2022.
• Blind review by Advisory Judges who shall [individually] assess, grade and rank the entries: August 10 – 30, 2022.
• Decision on Top 10 entries by Advisory Judges are published (without ranking) on the Competition Page: 1st September 2022.

*Decisions by the Judges are final and are not subject to legal appeal

• Profiles of the Top 10 participants are requested and Top 4th – 10th are published: September 1 – 4, 2022.
• The audience will then determine the final ranking for Positions 4th – 10th with an open and public online vote – multiple votes are allowed (SEE ANNEX 1 below for voting weights): September 5 – 11, 2022.
• PositiveNaija collates; prepares and issue certificates: September 12 – 18, 2022.
• The audience will then determine the final ranking and winner (Top 3) with an open and public online vote – multiple votes are allowed (SEE ANNEX 1 below for voting weights): September 19 – 25, 2021.
• PositiveNaija collates and prepares certificates: September 26 – 30, 2022.
• Wole Joshua & Co. audits entire competition process: July – September 30, 2022.
• Overall winner (and essay)/results are declared/published on 1^st October 2022.
  
• Payments made and certificate issued to winners on 1^st October 2022.

Sponsorship:

We welcome sponsorships for the 2022 PositiveNaija Annual Essay Competition. Identifying, supporting and partnering with us on this competition is a testament to your personal, institutional or corporate conviction on the greatness, development and potentials of Nigeria/Nigerians.

For transparent and accountability purposes, every sponsorship for this competition received shall be made available on the blog [for privacy, sponsors can choose to use the initials of their names] (SEE ANNEX 3 below). We shall also provide up-to-date progress report to you.

Your support – financial or service-oriented, could therefore be targeted to the following areas (SEE ANNEX 2 below for account details and guidance):

• Prizes: Top 1 – 10 Essays (Target: 10 million Naira)
• Media/Publicity (Target: 3 million Naira)
• Administrative/Logistics (Target: 2 million Naira)
• General/Overarching – If your support is targeted to the general/overarching running of the competition, we will ensure equity in its distribution to the entire competition process.

We are committed to making the PositiveNaija Annual Essay Competition, the most rewarding educational prize competition in Nigeria.

Submission:

Email: positivenaija@yahoo.com

Deadline: 31 July 2022 | 11:59 PM (GMT +1)

Advisory Judges (4): Were to be contacted after the emergence of finalists.

Acceptance of Terms

By participating you declare that you accept these terms and conditions.

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ANNEX 1 – Voting Rights and Weights

*The Advisory Judges shall grade each entry with a total of 100

*The grades of the Advisory Judges shall have 99% (0.99) voting weight

*The audience can vote as many times possible

*The votes of the audience shall have a 1% (0.01) voting weight

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ANNEX 2 – Sponsorship Guide

*Account information (Bank name: Access Bank; Account name: Toju Ogbe; Account number: 0006376703)

* Use ‘2022 PositiveNaija Essay’ as support description. You can also send an email/sms indicating your support provided.

*We do not accept cash; please make all financial contributions via the account information provided.

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ANNEX 3 – 2022 PositiveNaija Essay Competition Sponsors

*Only received contributions of support are listed below in the order they come in/we receive them.

Institutions

Individuals

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ANNEX 4 – Status of Entries (press release)

1. Total number of entries: 15
2. Nationalities: 15 Nigerians
3. No winner or finalist emerged.
4. Names from No. 1-15 do not imply their positions in the Competition (rather, largely in the order they were received).
5. We are willing to provide feedback to all who did not make it as a finalist or winner –  the reason why (as far as they request for it via email or WhatsApp).

*Last updated: 03 August 2022.

See the 2021 PositiveNaija Essay Competition on the next page.