Denbigh High student among winners of RJRGLEANER essay competition
Published:Friday | January 15, 2021 | 12:08 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
Thirteen-year-old Denbigh High School student, Jade Bloomfield, was named one of 15 winners in the RJRGLEANER Christmas essay competition.
Nicarno Williams, marketing and special projects supervisor at the RJRGLEANER Group, said the competition was part of Radio Jamaica’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
“We had an internal committee that chose the winners, and we really wanted to ensure we had one winner from each parish; though majority of the entries came in from Kingston and St Andrew,” Williams told The Gleaner.
Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted other planned activities, Williams said it was necessary to host the first staging of the essay competition as it paved a way to distribute tablets for online learning, now mandated by the pandemic.
Over 380 students across the island submitted entries for the grand prize.
An enthused Jade shared her excitement about her win.
“I always wanted to make a permanent footprint on this planet, so I thought even if it was a little competition, this was probably my chance,” she said.
Expressing confidence in her writing prowess, the avid writer shared, “I kind of knew that with my writing skills I probably had a 50 per cent chance [of winning,] but on the other hand, I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
The essay was opened to students between ages six and 16, with participants asked to write on the topic ,’What Christmas means to me’ in no fewer than 100 words.
Speaking of writing her essay, Jade said, “I just sat at my back door with book in hand and just wrote what I felt and wrote what my heart told me to write. My heart talks to me and I listen.
“Writing leads me to a world of fantasy. When I write, I truly don’t think about anything else and just do what I love. Writing is more than a passion for me, it also takes me on an adventure to a different world. Writing lets me escape even just for a moment; it’s like a best friend, you tell it secrets and let it be,” Jade told The Gleaner.
Camille Malcolm, Jade’s mother, said she is always hunting writing competitions for her daughter to participate in.
“I recognise that Jade has great talent when it comes on to writing. Therefore, I harness such talent and encourage her in every step of the way,” added Malcolm.
Jade shared that she is in the process of writing poems and other literature for publication.