Winners of the Central Bank’s 2020 Financial Literacy Video Essay Competition Announced

Published: Thursday January 7th, 2021

The Central Bank of The Bahamas inaugurated its annual Financial Literacy Video Essay Competition in October 2020, for students in the primary, junior high and senior high school categories. The contest was branded under the Get Money Smart Bahamas campaign, inviting scholars to submit an essay of up to five minutes on a theme selected by the Bank. The topic debated by students was "The ways in which we save are less important than how much we save".

In addition to the top three winners in each category, the Bank awarded honourable mentions to nine primary school students, three junior high school students and four senior high school students. Links to all placements, including honourable mentions are being posted on the Bank’s and the Get Money Smart Bahamas social media pages.

Despite short notice, the competition received 104 eligible entries: 58 in the primary school division, with the remaining entries equally split between junior high and senior high school students.

The Bank congratulates the following top entries.

Primary School (Grades 4 to 6):

1st: Ms. Tianna Swann, age 9, St. John's College, New Providence

2nd: Mr. Dwayne Small Jr., age 8, Temple Christian School, New Providence

3rd: Ms. Kaylee Ferguson, age 11, Kingsway Academy, New Providence

Junior High School (Grades 7 to 9):

1st: Ms. Elyse Hanna, age 12, Windsor School, New Providence

2nd: Ms. Azaria Louis, age 11, Bishop Michael Eldon School, Grand Bahama

3rd: Mr. Andre Rolle: age 12, St. Augustine's College, New Providence

Senior High School (Grades 10 to 12):

1st: Ms. Angel Percentie, age 16, Bishop Michael Eldon School, Grand Bahama

2nd: Mr. Dariq Chase, age 16, Aquinas College, New Providence

3rd: Ms. Sierra Blair, age 16, Kingsway Academy, New Providence

The Central Bank commends students for the exceptionally high quality of submissions. The competition judges issued very positive remarks on the excellence of the essays; the research undertaken and the creativity shown in producing the videos. Judges also applauded the level of interest shown by primary school students.

The six competition judges were Ms. Nahaja Black, Talk Show Host, Guardian Radio; Mr. Rupert Pinder, Economist & Lecturer, University of The Bahamas; Mr. Gowon Bowe, CEO, Fidelity Bank Bahamas Limited; Ms. Tanya McCartney, CEO, Bahamas Financial Services Board; Ms. Latoya Smith, Economist (Central Bank) and Senior Advisor on the IMF Executive Board; and Mr. Ulrich Voges, Art Curator, Central Bank of The Bahamas.