BRIEFLY ABOUT THE 1ST THE MUSLIM CONGRESS ESSAY COMPETITION (1434/2013)
CONCEPTION: Although the Essay competition was conceived primarily to form part of the 20th anniversary commemoration of The Muslim Congress, the aims and objectives that justified its inclusion include:
- resuscitating reading culture among the Muslims and encouraging intellectual research and good reporting/ presentation;
- serving as platform to convey the feelings and expectations of the Muslim youths to NSCIA leadership on the heels of the appointment of Professor Is’haq Oloyede as new Secretary-General, with a view to contributing intellectually to the growth and development of NSCIA in performing her roles better as the umbrella body for all the Muslims in Nigeria.
- reviving the art of creative / serious writing among Muslim youth;
TOPIC & PUBLICITY: The topic of the Essay Competition, The Prospects and Challenges of Islam in Nigeria – The Role of Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) was uploaded on our website and given electronic publicity using on-line social media and e-mails.
ELIGIBILITY AND DURATION: Age limit was put at between 18 and 35. Duration of four weeks was fixed for submission of entries from June 10 to July 5, 2013. Due to scanty number of entries, the deadline was extended by two weeks from July 5 to July 19, 2013. Specification, format and other rules were also stipulated.
EVALUATION AND SCORING: A total of 27 entries was received, 3 of which did not meet the requirements. Consequently only 24 entries were evaluated and scored. These included 21 males and 3 females.
PANEL OF JUDGES: An 8-member panel was constituted, cutting across Islamic scholars, pen professionals, University lecturers and language experts. One of the members was unable to participate in the assessment and scoring due to other commitments at the time.
RESULT: Weighted average of the scores was done, and 10 submissions with highest scores were picked. Writers of these 10 best entries include 9 males and 1 female. Age wise, the youngest among the winners is only 18, a male and an undergraduate, while the eldest is 30, single and an international post-graduate student. 5 are undergraduates and 5 graduates. Their educational disciplines range from Engineering (5), Law (1), History (1), Mathematics (1), Pharmacy (1) to Finance (1). Only two are married.
The summary of key points in the 10 best essays have been put together and abridged for presentation to the Supreme Council.
APPRECIATION & APPEAL: Our appreciation goes to all the individuals and organisations who contributed in one way or the other to the success of the Competition. As it is our desire to make the Competition an annual sustainable event and to reach a wider audience, we appeal to our well-meaning wealthy Muslims for sponsorship of newspaper advertisement and of prizes for the winners. May Allah reward us all.
