Twice, she has excelled in national essay competitions
For the thunder to strike twice as it were, at the same spot, is by no means a coincidence. She did it earlier in the year and last month, it happened again.
So it would not be overstatement to classify Chinonso Ama as essay master and one of the most decorated student essayists currently.
In appearance, she doesn’t look like someone that could write a line, maybe because of her very few words that come occasionally.
But when it’s time to put pen to paper, she turns a tiger with enormous charge and energy.
Chinonso is a student of Environmental Biology and Zoology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). Her course of study might not have much to do with essay writing, but Chinonso, the Edda, Ebonyi State girl, is imbued with her peculiar quality to chisel out winning scripts.
So amazing is the fact that the issues or topics of the two essays have nothing to do with her sciences. While the first is more affiliated to law, the other is purely a topic in economics.
That she did, and came tops, in the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) national essay competition that was actually the local arm of the higher contest that spans Africa in the 2016/2017 edition.
In Nigeria, Chinonso took the entire competitors by storm and soared above all others. Like a tradition for the UNN, of the five top essayists in Nigeria, the first three were all UNN students. While Chinonso had her position secured at the top, another colleague of hers from the Department of Public Admin and Local Government queued behind her with another lady and law student coming third.
For assailing others, she became Nigeria’s nomination to the continental contest that was to hold in Burkina Faso where other national champions were pooled to draw the best three.
Again, at that larger platform, Chinonso repeated her feat and got Nigeria the third continental spot.
To celebrate her, the SON, sponsors of the national essay for its fourth annual event, sent Chinonso to the African Standards Organisation (ARSO) annual event for her award. The investiture held at the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, on June 28.
But she was not done yet. It was just a matter of a month’s gap before she hit another essay competition bull’s eye.
This time, it was that of the African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD), a non-profit organisation. The competition was open to undergraduates in Nigeria. Participants were expected to provide an answer to the question: Free market is often seen as ‘anti-equality. Drawing from Adam Smith’s propositions, explain how free-market promotes equal opportunities.
The answer must be succinctly compressed into a maximum of 500 words. Again, among over 100 undergraduates from all over Nigeria that participated, the roll call picked Chinonso as winner. So, beyond any iota of doubt, she stands out as quality essayist.
She spoke with Daily Sun and said: “Among the top five entries from over 100 participants from various tertiary institutions in the country, I emerged the winner of the competition, winning a full scholarship expense paid trip to the ALOD 2017 camp in Abuja alongside other prizes to be awarded at the event scheduled to take place between September 28 and October 1.
The topic she wrote on at the SON and Africa contest that gave her the price was the Role of Standardization in Facilitating Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women.
The title of the 4th ARSO Essay Competition was chosen in alignment with the AU’s declaration of 2016 as the “Africa Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women.”