The University of Limerick Regional Writing Centre is holding its seventh annual National Secondary School Essay-writing Competition for Transition and 5th year secondary school students.

The competition will require that students take a decisive stance on the following prompt, which is to be explored in an essay of 800-1,000 words:

“Affordable student housing is essential and could be a solid investment for the Government. So why are we handing it over to the vultures", asks Journal.ie reporter Eilís Ryan.

(article accessed 18/09/17 http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/affordable-housing-is-essential-why-are-we-handing-control-of-it-over-to-the-vultures-3213138-Jan2017/)

What is the best way to guarantee the availability of affordable student housing?

The primary purpose of our competition is to give students the opportunity to engage in a social debate through writing and to prepare them for argumentative writing at third level. In addition, the competition highlights the University of Limerick’s commitment to supporting the educational advancement of prospective students. The Regional Writing Centre is dedicated to helping students to develop strategies to become more confident, critical and autonomous writers, able to write persuasively in all contexts, whether academic or professional.

The deadline for receipt of entries for this competition is Wednesday, 28th February 2018 at 5:00pm. The rules and regulations of the competition, judging criteria, identification sheet and poster for the promotion of this competition can be found here.

Three shortlisted winners in each year will be announced on Monday, 23rd April 2018, and prizes will be awarded at a special ceremony in the University of Limerick on Thursday, 17th May 2018. The overall winner of the National Secondary School Essay-writing Competition for each year (Transition and 5th Year) will receive an android tablet, while the two runners up in each year will receive a €100 One4All voucher.