Daize Triumphs

Xenique Daize of the St Mary’s Roman Catholic School is the winner of the fourth edition of the Courts/Ministry of Education Reading Competition which was held on Tuesday.{{more}}

The nine-year-old Grade 5 student was declared the winner and will represent St Vincent and the Grenadines in the regional competition which will be held in Dominica on November 22.

She also won her school $2,000, which is expected to go towards the funding of a literacy project at the school.

Daize received a trophy and will be given the opportunity to read a segment of the news on SVG TV and NBC Radio and will enjoy one year free Internet compliments Karib Cable.

Jerona Mapp of the Stubbs Primary School finished in second place and K’eresa Lai of the Kingstown Preparatory School finished in the third position.

Mapp also captured the “Best Read Narrative” and $400 with Daize taking the “Best read News” item and a Kindle Fire.

“I enjoy reading because it gives me the opportunity to explore other places in a book,” young Daize said following her victory in the competition.

The confident student said that she came in to the finals optimistic that she would win, saying that she prepared herself by practicing for the past two weeks.

She thanked her mom, Clorette and dad Rudolph Daize for their assistance, saying that she was also grateful to her literacy teacher, Miss Ferguson.

Focus is now on the regional competition and Daize said that she will be going all out to make sure that she brings the trophy home.

Alexis John, Courts Marketing Executive, said that the competition is all about adding value to the nation’s youth.

The competition targets a specific age group, John said, adding that students between the ages of 8 and 9 are at a critical stage of their development.

“And we want to ensure is that we help mould their minds,” John explained.

Some additional features have been added to this year’s regional finals, John announced.

“We didn’t want this to be another competition; we want to ensure that the competition reaches further.”

He said that the number of regional finalists has been reduced from 9 to 7; this is to enhance the chances of bringing back the trophy to St Vincent he said.

Next year’s competition promises to be bigger and better, with some additional incentives to be added.

According to John, since the inception of the programme, it has become one of the more exciting competitions, drawing participation from a large portion of primary schools in the nation.

He said that 49 out of the nation’s 66 schools participated in this year’s competition. (DD)