Competitions & Programmes

2019 POSITIVENAIJA ESSAY COMPETITION

The 2019 PositiveNaija Essay Competition aims to promote: the dignity, safety and prosperity of Nigerians; Nigerian patriotism; nation building as well as serve as a platform for excellence!

Title of Essay:

THE VALUE OF THE LIFE OF A NIGERIAN!

Objective:

Inform the world on how the lives of Nigerians are genuinely being respected, protected and empowered today in good conscience and as required by the current Nigerian constitution.

Eligibility:

• Essay submissions are free – at no cost to the participants
• Open to only Nigerians
• 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.
• 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, 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 2019 PositiveNaija Series
  
• 2^nd – 10^th positions: Essays published in the 2019 PositiveNaija Series
  
• 1^st – 10^th positions: Essays are published weekly on the blog.

Timelines:

• Submission dates by participants: August 1 – 31, 2019 (SEE ANNEX 4 for status of entries).
• PositiveNaija review and submit Top 10 best entries to Advisory Judges: September 1 – 8, 2019.
• Blind review by Advisory Judges who shall [individually] assess, grade and rank the entries: September 9 – 30, 2019.
• Decision on Top 10 entries by Advisory Judges are published (without ranking) on the Competition Page: 1st October 2019.

*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: October 2 – 6, 2019
• 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): October 7 – 12, 2019
• 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): October 14 – 20, 2019
• PositiveNaija collates: October 21 – 23, 2019
• Wole Joshua & Co. audits entire competition process: June – October 30, 2019
• Overall winner (and essay)/results are declared/published on 31^st October 2019
  
• Payments made and certificate issued to winners on 31^st October 2019

Sponsorship:

We welcome sponsorships for the 2019 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 August 2019 | 11:59 PM (GMT +1)

Advisory Judges (4):

Eire. Ifueko Alufohai (Mrs.) - BA, LLB, LLM

Legal Practitioner and Executive-level professional with over 20 years combined experience in legal practice, legal advisory services, and administration of national and international status.

She is well-positioned to apply legal and administrative expertise towards providing value-adding solutions.

Mrs. Alufohai was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1996. She holds an LLM from the University of Houston, Houston Texas, and also a B.A in History from the University of Benin.

She is the immediate past Executive Director of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and currently the Edo State Focal Person of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Oladoyin Abiona - BA, MA

Oladoyin Abiona earned her first and second degrees in English Studies from Adekunle Ajasin University Ondo State and University of Port Harcourt respectively in Nigeria. She taught English and Literature at  Bloombreed High School, Port Harcourt until her going to the United States on a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship Scholarship for the 2016/17 academic session where she assisted in teaching Yoruba language and culture at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

She has been involved in organizing workshops for teachers of English in South West Nigeria. Presently, she is a graduate student at the Popular Culture Department, Bowling Green State University, Ohio.

Mr. Osagie James Osemwegie - Bsc, Msc

Mr. Emmanuel Akpata

Strategy Consultant with academic background in Economics, Consumer behaviour and System Dynamics.

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 80% (0.8) voting weight

*The audience can vote as many times possible

*The votes of the audience shall have a 20% (0.2) voting weight

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ANNEX 2 – Sponsorship Guide

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

* Use ‘2019 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 – 2019 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: (57)
2. Nationalities: Nigerians [57]
3. No winner or finalist emerged.
4. Names from No. 1-57 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: 20 September 2019

See the 2019 PositiveNaija Video Event on the next page.