The Grand Finale of the UBA Foundation National Essay Competition Ghana edition held on Monday, November 28, 2016 at the Bank’s Corporate Headquarters in Accra, Ghana.

The winner for this year was Miss Hannah Akahoho Segbefia from Wesley Girls High School with an amount of $5,000.00. This serves as an educational grant to study in any African university of her choice. The first and second runners up, Miss Kasha Kuipo and Master Angaag Nathaniel Awentiirin won the amounts of $3500 and $2000 respectively.

Speaking at the ceremony the MD/CEO, UBA Ghana, Abiola Bawuah congratulated all 12 finalists, calling them winners for taking a step of faith by being a part of the competition.

She spoke about UBA preparing the youth for leadership by investing in the lives of our future leaders. Mrs Bawuah also called on members of the press to duly publicize this initiative by ensuring that students in Ghana are given an opportunity to be a part of such competitions.

The MD/CEO, UBA Foundation, Ijeoma Aso equally reiterated that all finalists are winners having been chosen from amongst hundreds of entries received for the competition nationwide.

She said that UBA Foundation, being the CSR arm of UBA Plc gives back to communities where UBA operates through its focus areas. Education she said is one of the Foundation’s focus areas because, students today are leaders tomorrow.

She called on all the finalists to be ambassadors of the competition which is in its third year in Ghana and promised that the competition will be held every year.

The Minister of Education, Ghana was represented at the event by Mrs Felicia Boakye–Yiadom the Director for Curriculum Research and Development. In her speech, she highlighted strong points of the UBA Foundation National Essay Competition, such as to allow every student to exhibit hidden talents and potentials while developing a positive work ethic with problem solving and critical thinking skills.

She expressed both the ministers as well as the Ghana Education Service’s appreciation to UBA for this laudable initiative, “This UBA Foundation National Essay Competition is one of the most inspiring events for the GES. The GES really appreciates this endeavor to promote literacy, expression and creativity among young people greatly” she said.

The judges were encouraged about the future of Ghana as a country because they noted that the students wrote intelligently and their ideas were good, new and refreshing. They also noted that the students wrote in from all parts of Ghana.

Dr Jemima Anderson the Head of Department – English at the University of Legon was additionally excited that entries came from all over Ghana including the north and west as well as Accra and did not only concentrate on schools from one particular area.

Each participant was given a UBA branded HP Laptop to go home with.