THIS YEAR, 10 SAINT LUCIAN STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST.

One of the activities on the calendar of events for the 2023 Nobel Laureate Festival was the fifth annual Queens Commonwealth Essay Awards hosted by SLUDTERA.

SLUDTERA provides initiatives for the benefit of youth, the unemployed and entrepreneurs.  Head of Saint Lucia’s Queens Commonwealth Essay Awards Planning Committee, Founder and President of SLUDTERA and Junior Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition judge, Mrs. Michelle Samuel, said the initiative is an opportunity for students nationally, to express themselves through writing.

“We’re on a quest to find the next Nobel Laureate in Literature from Saint Lucia. That is the goal behind this ceremony. We want more schools come on board where students participate at the school level rather than individually so that more students can be part of the initiative and express themselves through writing.”

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is an international school writing contest. Ten Saint Lucian students were among the 26, 300 entries received this year. Three-time Gold Winner, Khadijah Halliday, explains her inspiration for writing and her love for words.

“I fell in love with words at a very young age. My childhood years were spent going to school for eight hours and then coming home to read for another eight and after reading book after book, I had the epiphany that I didn’t need to always be the one being inspired and that I could be the one doing the inspiring.”

Miss Halliday also encouraged young writers: “Writers should not minimize or discount connecting with one person because one human being is like an entire system of idiosyncrasies and personality traits, and quirks, and hobbies, and tendencies, and history so to connect with even something singular but something so vast, is a major accomplishment. So when performing, connect with one person from up on stage and even when you’re writing, write with an audience of one in mind.”

SLUDTERA has been hosting the annual Queens Commonwealth Essay Awards during the second week in January, beginning in 2019.

Previous sponsors of the ceremony include the St. Lucia Writers Forum, Trophy Centre Plus, Computer World, Sa Nou St. Lucia, Rituals Coffee House, KFC, Jean’s Driving School, Melly’s Mix It Up, Dominoes Pizza, 758 Books, Easy Click Books, Songtry, The Entrepreneurship Readiness Program, and the Saint Lucia Nobel Laureate Committee.