The Tribune

Students can win up to $1,000 in an essay competition on sustainability and climate change sponsored by solar company Inti Corporation in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

The competition is open to junior, senior and tertiary level students.

The tertiary level winner will receive a prize of $1,000, the senior high school winner $750 and the junior high school winner $500.

One student will be Inti’s Youth Environment Ambassador for a year and the school with the most entries will receive the Environmental Leadership Award.

Inti Corporation is the company responsible for the design, engineering, procurement and construction of the nation’s first solar farm contributing to a power company grid.

Inti is focused on sustainability and has embraced a commitment to gender equality. The firm is actively seeking more women in engineering and construction of the Grand Bahama project.

Owen Bethel, the president of Inti Corporation, encouraged students to be mindful of sustainable practices and climate change.

He said: “We are encouraging all students to stop and think about how sustainable practices impact climate change. The topic we want them to write about is ‘Renewable and sustainable energy can significantly impact climate change in The Bahamas.

“We believe that when students think of key words like hurricane, rising sea levels, solar solutions and sustainable development and consider those words in connection with The Bahamas, even in connection with a storm they may have gone through, it will bring home a subject that at times can feel remote or distant.”

He added: “The students who are now in junior and senior high and in college will carry the mantle forward and the more we can incentivise them to think about innovation in areas like renewables, the better protected we will be in the future, their future.

Essay competition rules include a word count of 400 to 600 words for junior secondary level students, 650 to 800 for senior secondary and 800 to 1,000 for tertiary level students. A team of teachers will screen submissions and finalists will also be interviewed by judges for selection of the ambassador who will represent Inti on environmental matters at conferences and other opportunities for one year.

Full rules, including key words and entry requirements, are available at essay@inti.global. Deadline for submission is April 15.