Yesterday, the Pacific Community, through its Deputy Director General Cameron Diver, presented the Médiathèque de Rivière Salée (Rivière Salée multi-media library) in Noumea, New Caledonia with the prize for the winning video as part of the Pacific-wide competition that SPC held to mark the 50th anniversary of International Literacy Day.
The awards ceremony was attended by the Consul General of New Zealand, Dr Justin Fepuleai; the Fourth Deputy to the MP/Mayor of Noumea, Chantal Bouyé; and Félicia Garnier who represented ANZ Bank.
The competition had been open to all children under the age of 16 living in one of SPC’s 22 Pacific island member countries or territories. The contest, whose theme was “Why Reading Matters”, had three categories, i.e. poster, letter and video, and the 11 children who had taken part in a workshop at the Rivière Salée municipal multi-media library (Verger Arthur, Jaïchouchen Matilda, Ena Huang Larremendy, De Moor Macéo, Guilpain Amandine, Cerda Emilia, Hnanyine Charisma, Delon Nathan, Paralet Alhi, Hnanyine Destiney, Delon Naomie) won the prize for their video highlighting the rights of readers.
This festive ceremony at the Rivière Salée multi-media library brought together the children and their parents for the presentation of an awards certificate along with a gift certificate generously sponsored by ANZ.
Cameron Diver said, “Literacy is an important issue for our children and for the future of our region. Young people need to take the lead in that area and they should be encouraged to learn to love reading. A message to young people is even stronger when it comes from other youngsters, which is why SPC held this competition. I am delighted at the quality and creativity of the work submitted by Pacific island youth, particularly by the group of children from New Caledonia.”
For the letter category, the winner was Miss Alexandria Slaven of Samoa, and John Pettitt of Fiji took the poster category.
SPC launched the competition to promote the benefits of literacy among Pacific children and youth following the release in June of the latest Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) which revealed cause for concern with literacy among Year 4 and Year 6 students.
The latest PILNA was coordinated by SPC in partnership with the New Zealand Aid Programme, and supported by Pacific Islands’ education ministries, teachers and parents.
Media contact:
Jean-Noël Royer, SPC Communications Officer, [email protected], +687 87 70 63
Useful link:
Link for the video