The Tribune

PRIMARY` school students throughout The Bahamas picked up their crayons and showed off their creativity this Earth Day for the Big Blue Earth Day Colouring Competition. The students were among the one billion people worldwide who participated in unique activities in observance of the annual event. The contest was hosted by Bahamas Waste and the Bahamas National Trust

The colouring contest was launched to celebrate Earth Day and to commemorate the launch of the Bahamas Waste “Visit a Park Today” truck.  A copy of the blank colouring sheet depicted a Bahamas Waste truck with the side of the truck showing all 32 protected National Parks on 11 islands throughout The Bahamas.

“This project realized through partnership with Bahamas Waste, has brought out so much creativity in these kids,” said Eric Carey, the Executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust. “But the real powerful story, is that our work is effective in getting the message through and raising the environmental consciousness of students throughout the Bahamas. That level of awareness is reflected in the huge interest and support of this competition.”

Students were able to download the colouring page from the Bahamas National Trust and Bahamas Waste Facebook pages, and could be dropped off to Bahamas Waste and Bahamas National Trust offices. Hundreds of colourful, vibrant, animated colouring pages were entered and Bahamas Waste General Manager, Francisco de Cardenas, appreciated each of them for their uniqueness.

“When we launched this competition we were not sure what to expect,” said de Cardenas. “We only had one entry at our office, but when we found out we had over 300 entries from around The Bahamas, I was overwhelmed. I wanted to see them all!”

The judges sorted through all submissions and selected the masterpiece of Dinaj Major, a student at Nicholls Town Primary School in Andros, as the overall winner. Dinaji was awarded a BNT family membership (for four) and two hundred and fifty dollars worth of school supplies.

“It’s so great - the creativity, the hard work and the care - that each child put into this colouring contest. We hope the message behind this initiative stays in the minds of these talented children and that they will also teach their parents about the Bahamas National Trust parks, and visit them too,” said de Cardenes.

Earth Day is celebrated every April with the goal of promoting education and support for environmental protection. The Bahamas National Trust and Bahamas Waste chose to focus on the Bahamas National Parks for Earth Day 2016. Currently there are 32 National Parks throughout the archipelago and more than 2 million acres is currently protected, including marine and land sites.