Competitions & Programmes

2020 POSITIVENAIJA ESSAY COMPETITION

The 2020 PositiveNaija Essay Competition aims to promote: the clarity of the common objective(s) and usefulness of the Nigerian state; Nigerian patriotism; impactful scholarship as well as serve as a platform for excellence!

Title of Essay:

THE PURPOSE OF NIGERIA!

Objective:

Inform the world on what genuinely gives you confidence on the reason(s) why Nigeria exists as a country today for the good of Nigerians and humanity.

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.
• 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 2020 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, 2020 (SEE ANNEX 4 for status of entries).
• PositiveNaija review and submit Top 10 best entries to Advisory Judges: August 1 – 9, 2020.
• Blind review by Advisory Judges who shall [individually] assess, grade and rank the entries: August 10 – 30, 2020.
• Decision on Top 10 entries by Advisory Judges are published (without ranking) on the Competition Page: 1st September 2020.

*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 – 5, 2020
• 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 6 – 13, 2020
• PositiveNaija collates; prepares and issue certificates: September 14 – 19, 2020
• 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 20 – 27, 2020
• PositiveNaija collates and prepares certificates: September 28 – 30, 2020
• Wole Joshua & Co. audits entire competition process: July – September 30, 2020
• Overall winner (and essay)/results are declared/published on 1^st October 2020
  
• Payments made and certificate issued to winners on 1^st October 2020

Sponsorship:

We welcome sponsorships for the 2020 PositiveNaija 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 2020 | 11:59 PM (GMT +1)

Advisory Judges (4):

Dr. (Mrs) Tayo Ola George

Dr. Tayo O. George (B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D in Sociology) is an Associate Professor, Gender and Development Studies and Former Head, Department of Sociology at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.

She is a scholar, researcher and teacher with a vision of knowledge creation and impact to the younger generation.

Among other national and international professional bodies, she is a Member of the Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Practitioners Association (NASA); an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN); and a Member of the Council for Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Institute Dakar, Senegal.

Oladoyin Abiona

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.

Dr. Obiajulu Nnamuchi

Dr. Obiajulu Nnamuchi is head, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, with teaching duties also at the Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences.

He received a LL.B from Nigeria, LL.M. (Notre Dame), LL.M. (Toronto), LL.M. (Lund), M.A. (Louisville) and S.J.D. (Loyola, Chicago).

A formally trained bioethicist (University of Louisville Medical School), Dr. Nnamuchi is also the founder of the Centre for Health, Bioethics and Human Rights (CHBHR) and director of its section on Bioethics. His scholarship focuses mainly on the intersection of law and medicine; human rights; global health; bioethics; and, health governance and financing – areas on which he has written extensively. He is currently working on the intersection of law and communicable diseases, particularly in the realm of tobacco control, and the health dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sanni Alausa-Issa

Sanni Alausa-Issa is a writer, public speaker and a capacity-building enthusiast.

He currently mentors over 100 people on personal development, leadership and career development

A book lover and a staunch advocate of reviving the reading culture among youths. He believes in the transformative power of education and how it can contribute to nation-building.

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 ‘2020 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 – 2020 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: 153
2. Nationalities: Nigerians (153)
3. Rather than the top ten (10) essays envisaged or hoped for, three (3) essays emerged top/finalists.
4. Names from Nos. 4 – 153 do not imply their positions in the competition (rather, largely in the order their essays were received).
5. We are willing to provide feedback to all who did not make it into the top best essays – the reason why (as far as they request for it via email or WhatsApp). Feedback will be provided from October 2, 2020 within one week of the request or commencement of the feedback period.
   
6. Top three (3) participants should kindly send in via email a brief profile of themselves, photograph(s) and account details.

*Last updated: 02 September 2020 (5:00 pm)

See the 2019 PositiveNaija Essay Competition on the next page.