The organisers of Spelling Bee Bayelsa have called on Bayelsa Government and other stakeholders to support the programme.
The call is coming as winners emerged from the 11th edition of the competition on Saturday.
The competition which was held at Davem Mini Hub and Children Music School in Yenagoa had winners going home with cash prizes of N100,000, 50,000, and 30,000 for first, second and third positions, respectively.
There were other gifts.
The two-day event had Tamaramiebi Festus of Ayakpo Comprehensive College securing the first position, while Oweibo Emmanuel, of New Total Child came second.
Azi Amarachi from Ayakpo Comprehensive College came third, Morris Azibagiri also from New Total Child took the fourth position and Michelle Okomokou of Deeper Life School took the fifth position.
The Convener, Dr Ebidenyefa Tarila-Nikade, urged the government, private organisations and public-spirited individuals to support the initiative.
“We look forward to the period when students will be leaving here with one million Naira, N1.5 million and two million Naira.
“It will inspire more children to engage in this positive venture and it will reduce their interest in vices, because they are being handsomely rewarded for academic excellence,” she said.
She said that sharpening spelling skills and checking spelling errors were the motivation for the competition.
Tarila-Nikade thanked those already supporting the initiative.
“It has been a fantastic experience, quite intriguing, fun-filled, entertaining and educative.
“The Spelling Bee Bayelsa has been endorsed by the Ministry of Education, it gave us permission to host the programme.
“Every year is an improvement on the previous one; so, we are hopeful that next year will be better than this one,” she said.
The highlight of the event was presentation of cheques to the winners.
English dictionaries, schoolbags and some other gifts were distributed to participants.
Tamaramiebi Festus of Ayakpo Comprehensive College commended the convener and sponsors of the competition.
She said that hard work helpe her to emerge victorious.
The student also thanked her school management for developing her.
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