Students awarded in 'Taifa Leo' writing competition

Lucy Nduta of St Anuarite Girls Secondary School in Nyandarua and Natalie Adhiambo, a pupil at Serare School, Kajiado, have each been awarded Sh50,000 for fees after emerging tops in the “Shindano la Uandishi wa Insha” competition run by the Taifa Leo newspaper.

The competition, which has been in existence for over five years, is an initiative by Taifa Leo to promote and preserve Kiswahili as well as nurture oratory and written talent.

It was not until recently that the newspaper introduced the school fees award to best students and pupils.

Nduta, who won in the secondary schools category, in September scored a total of 16 marks out of a possible 20 to beat Jackton Okoth (15 marks, Boito Boys), Nikita Michelle (14 marks, Precious Blood Riruta) and Ann Barasa (13 marks, Chwele Girls) to the award.

The four competitors in the finale were crowned overall winners in the months of August, September, October and November, respectively.

Adhiambo won the primary schools category after scoring a total of 36 marks out of 40, beating Loice Mshindi of Malindi Little Angels Junior Academy who was declared the runners-up for scooping 35 marks.

Nathan Gicho of Bellevue School, Nairobi and Mitchell Wanjiru from Juter Academy in Kiambu were ranked third and fourth after scoring 32 and 29 marks respectively.

The creativity of the writers was reflected in competent use of language, innovation and effective handling of subject matter. Most of the pupils who have in the past participated in the competition attained good grades in the recently released KCPE examination results.

Kevin Ngatia of Tendercare Junior Academy, a school in Nairobi that participates in the Newspapers in Education programme (NIE) emerged the second best nationally after scoring 436 marks.

And Kiboi, the competition’s overall winner in February scooped 98 marks in the Kiswahili exam.