Akers resident wins NTRC’s Facebook essay competition

Elizabeth Bullock of Akers is the winner of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission’s (NTRC) Facebook essay competition.{{more}}

Bullock won herself a Kindle Fire after she posted her answer to the question: “What can parents do to reduce the risk against Internet predators?” on the NTRC’s Facebook page.

“I am very happy … I entered the competition twice and I was feeling good about my responses,” said Bullock on Wednesday, when she collected her winnings from the NTRC’s office assistant Keisha Gurley.

Bullock added: “When I got the call on Wednesday, it was unexpected and I was elated that I won … it’s an early Christmas gift.”

The competition began in July when the NTRC asked persons to post responses to certain questions on the organization’s Facebook page. Questions were also posted in August, September and October and the persons with the best answer from each month were entered in the November finals.

Bullock’s answer to the question read: “Set parental, Internet controls which block unsafe websites. Install anti-spyware that protects against malicious software via the Internet. Teach children to never provide personal information to Internet acquaintances or websites; parents should deal with such situations. Create awareness — social-networking users decrease in age daily; inform children of Internet predators, cyber-bullies and warning signs. Discuss Internet safety. Keep abreast of log-in information, ‘friends’ and Internet language to monitor children’s ‘cyber-life’. Institute strict Internet-usage guidelines, time-limit; monitor web-history, encourage children to share Internet experiences and teachers to promote internet-safety. Moral upbringing —discipline children early; when faced with these situations they would handle them appropriately.”

Meanwhile, Gurley said that the competition was held in an effort by the NTRC to get more persons interested in their Facebook page.

Commenting, Universal Service Fund (USF) administrator Kyron Duncan said that the competition would be bigger and better next year.

“We want to encourage persons to our Facebook page as we realize that Facebook is a mass means of getting to people, so we did it to get to persons to visit the page and learn about us.”

“We rewarded Bullock because she had the best, most detailed answer to the question,” said Duncan.

The other finalists were Meverick Henry, Annisha Alexander, and ‘Trisha Cherrylipz Catrastophy’.