ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

Time ticks down for primary and secondary schools to submit their winning entries for the 2009 FCCA Foundation Children’s Essay Contest, to the Ministry of Tourism, by June 15th. 

Manager, Tourism Education, Training and Awareness within the Ministry of Tourism, Cynthia G Simon, is encouraging students up to the age of 16 to use the opportunity to give focused thought to tourism, the country’s engine of economic growth, and to share such ideas and opinions using their writing skills.

300 - 500 words must be used to address the topic: “During this global economic downturn what can a destination which lives on tourism do to persuade more ships to come to their destination?”

Each participating student must submit their essay to their school for selection of the school’s best in the Junior and or Senior categories. Subsequently, a selection committee will chose one winner from each of the categories, to represent the country in the regional contest. The Antigua Barbuda winning entries will be forwarded to FCCA’s Head Office in Florida, where the Foundation’s Selection Committee will determine a first, second and third place winner for the two categories from among the essays submitted by all participating countries. 

The top three winners will receive a personal scholarship cash award ranging between US$ 1000 to US$ 3000 and a matching cash award will also be made available to the school represented by each of the winners. In addition, the first place winner in each category will participate in the FCCA’s Caribbean Cruise Conference in St. Lucia, October 26th - 30th, 2010.