The University of Limerick’s Regional Writing Centre is holding its fourth annual national essay-writing competition for Transition/4th, 5th and 6th 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:

“Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations.” – Nobel Committee

Respond to the above statement with reference to the role that young people play in Irish society today.

The primary purpose of our competition is to highlight University of Limerick’s commitment to supporting the educational advancement of prospective students and promote the development of good writers. 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 Friday, 27th of February, 2015.

Winners will be announced on Thursday, 30th of April, 2015, and prizes will be awarded by the President of the University of Limerick, Professor Don Barry, on Tuesday, 19th of May, 2015. The overall winner of this national competition will receive an iPad, while the three Provincial Winners will receive €200 each