13-year-old wins National Letter Writing Competition

Thirteen-year-old student of The St Michael School, Jaylen Brewster Howard, is the overall winner of this year’s National Letter Writing Competition for Young People.

With 178 points, he edged out second-place winner Layla Browne of Queen’s College by one point, while Ahron Austin, of the Reynold Weekes Primary School, placed third with 141 points.

The competition, which was hosted by the Barbados Postal Service, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and was open to writers between the ages of nine and 15, saw hundreds of entries from across the island and was judged by a panel of educators under the supervision of Education Officer for English, Gloria Haynes.

Now in its 20th year nationally, it falls under the aegis of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) – the international agency responsible for governing and coordinating the exchange of mail worldwide.

Jaylen was shocked to learn he was awarded first place from the hundreds of entrants.

“It was great to be inspired to do something for my island, to represent my island. Honestly, I don’t really know how I really feel right now. Just feel great to win and get all these gifts,” he said.

Asked about the inspiration behind his winning entry, he said his English teacher Collette Applewhaite told him about the competition and encouraged him to enter. The second-form student said he wanted to make his teacher proud, so he worked hard to submit his letter within a week. He confirmed that he will be entering next year’s competition.

Jaylen’s mother, Jillian Brewster, said she was proud of her son’s achievement.

“I honestly didn’t even know that he entered the competition. I just . . . got the call and I’m just overwhelmed and I’m very proud of him because I know he enjoys writing. He actually wants to be a writer, so this is . . . a good path for him; it’s a good result of his hard work and I hope he keeps it up,” she said.

Jaylen’s winning entry has been submitted to the UPU’s International Letter Writing Competition for Young People.

In this year’s competition, participants had to write on the following which was provided by the UPU: “At 150 years old, the UPU has served people around the world for more than eight generations. The world has changed enormously since then. Write a letter to future generations about the world you hope they inherit.”

(BGIS/BT)