A medical student at the University of Benin, Joshua Borokinni, has emerged third place winner of the 2017 Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition.
Out of a total of 12,300 youths from Commonwealth countries who took part in the competition, Borokinni was the only one from Nigeria and Africa. He emerged second runner-up and bronze medallist after Annika Turon-Semmens from Australia and Hiya Chowdhury of India, who bagged the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the senior category of the competition.
The Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition (also called the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition) is the world’s oldest schools’ international writing competition managed by The Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883.
Every year, the competition offers all Commonwealth youths aged 18 and below the opportunity to express their hopes for the future, opinions of the present and thoughts on the past through the written word.
The theme for this year’s competition was A Commonwealth for Peace, with topics that challenged young writers to consider peace at every level, from the personal to the political to the pan-Commonwealth.
In recognition of their achievement, the winners and runners-up in the contest will visit London and participate in a series of educational and cultural events scheduled to hold in November.
An excited Borokinni could not hide his feelings after learning about the results of the competition and the fact that he had done Nigeria and Africa proud.
“This award will definitely push me further to do more exceptional things that will showcase Nigeria and Africa to the world,” he said.
