Deniane John, a home-schooled student and the top island scholar at the 2012 GCE A Level Exams, is the winner of the Independent Regulatory Commission (IRC) 5th anniversary essay competition.
This year’s competition required students of high school and tertiary level education to explain why it is important to establish an Independent Regulatory Commission to oversee and regulate the electricity sector in Dominica and how this is of benefit to electricity consumers.
A total of 20 students participated in the competition from seven schools around the island.
IRC Public and Consumer Relations Manager, Mara Etienne-Manley, says that the objective of the competition was to increase young people’s knowledge of the work of the IRC while providing them with an opportunity to nurture their talent for writing.
Former IRC commissioner, Noelize Knight-Didier, judged the essays and told students that they were well done. However, she made note of the excessive use of the internet for research and not enough on books and other types of documents. “There is no substitute for a good book,” she said.
John was awarded a Kindle Fire, a $200 cash prize and her essay will be posted on the IRC website. She explained that this was a very good opportunity for her, however she said that the topic was fairly difficult and required a lot of effort.
Denzel Guye from the Dominica State College emerged second and was awarded an Ipod touch while Nickel Cuffy emerged third and received a Sony Digital Camera.
The Dominica State College also received a special award for having the most participating students.
Ten entries were received from the state college.
Interesting discussion on my comments. It is unfortunate though that the quote stopped just before I went on to say, “even if it’s an eBook downloaded from the internet”.
The point being made was two-fold: first, the depth of research needed for the topic required more than articles off the net and light reading, but the learning that only a text (hard or e) can give. Second, it is still our reality in Dominica that fact finding cannot be restricted to the internet. For instance, the IRC’s 5th Anniv magazine was not an e-magazine but a print one, as with many other such resource materials….because in Dominica this is still the norm (reality not preference). Depending on the topic one is researching therefore, you’ve got to check the print media….can’t run away from it.
Hope this clarifies….or spurs on more useful discussion!
Just read an interesting article on BBC. Newsweek to cease print edition and become an online magazine.
Not at all surprising, its the way information sharing is going these days, whether it be books, magazines, correspondence…you name it. Don’t berate those who are using the technology for good purposes.
There are millions of ebooks online so to me that comment does not make sense. Written material is written material whether in a physical book or eform.
Special congratulations Deniane!! Please use your talents wisely. Do not waste any of them.
Congratulations to all the other participants and to IRC for taking this positive initiative…a reprieve from all the national negativity.
Well done Deniane! Keep up the excellent work!
congratulation miss John you are ahead of the rest.your family,your village and Dominica is very proud of you .congratulations also to the second and third place winners.
@ DNO: I remember you recently posted that you were experiencing technical dificulty with your thumbs up and down function, but I think that most users of this site would like some clarity as to whether it is gone for good or whether we will be getting it back. You have so far been doing a great job of keeping us informed.
I love books to death, being an English major, writer, and academic–but to claim that books cannot be substituted by the Internet for research is simply untrue. Online databases of scholarly articles are not always available readily, if at all, in print; likewise, books a scholar may need may be more readily available as e-texts if he or she cannot quickly get a hold of the print text. While I fully agree that young students must not shun books and that the millenial generation tends to be wary of reading in general, to claim that books are simply “better” is nonsense and is the kind of statement that belies how detached many Dominicans are from reality in this day and age.
I agree – there is no question that e-books will supersede print books, if this has not yet happened. But I am thinking perhaps she was making reference to the quality or credibility of the sources because in these day and age and with almost everyone preferring electronic formats over hard copies, it is hard to not gravitate toward e-pubs.
I would like a thumbs up for freethinker! Some “learned” people are too close minded. How dare Noeliize put that nonsense in print? Where are the books? WE have two main libraries in Dominica and their books are outdated! I have so much difficulty getting up to date resources in books for my course its not funny.
did you use telephathy and read my mind word for word? thank you for verbalising.
Well each to their own because I completely agree with Mrs. Didier…I don’t think you guys understood where she’s coming from. Sure information is readily available online which contributes to a lot of plagiarism….Copy and paste. At least by reading a book you allow your brain to be active and work that you may come up with your own interpretation and build imagination. The internet if not used properly really doesn’t require much brain power at all…information right at your finger tips why read the book when someone has already done it for you? As I said each to their own!
Can internet replace book? Ms. Didier knows exactly what she spoke about One can critic better with a book.
…said by someone who, judging by his or her grammar, clearly is not practicing what’s being preached.
First prize kindle fire , can’t get around not using the internet to download a GOOD BOOK unto the kindle fire. With the speed at which technology is moving let us try to stick a balance in the way we see thinks. It may not happen in the next 5 years but we may see the closing of the public library all in the name technology. Stay informed, be encouraged , stay focused.
Congrats to Deniane John. You were again adjudged as being ahead of the pack – this time by a different panel of judges. Go girl go!
1 judge
i think it takes much more time to sift through and interpret a book for information; than to just do a search on the internet, where you might come accross forums and where interpretations might already be available.
Good initiative by the IRC, every bit of encourage is important for our youth.
What are the achievements of the IRC to date? I am holding them responsible to achieve and score real results for Dominicans. One of those is steering geothermal away from Domlec, show us how IRC helps us break the Domlec monopoly. Not just talk but positive action towards being the first Island to implement real competitionn in the supply of energy. I aupport that effort totally.
Congratulations to Deni and all the other finalists.
Keep up the good work!
How was that implied ? Clearly you are familiar with the situation. My point really is not to criticize in any way but just to say that most information found in books are available in digital form now. I am more incliend to think that she was referring to the type of web material used. It was probably just articles.
I must say that I cannot agree with Noelize. In this day and age not many folks pick up a physical book.
Just think about it. The first prize winner was awarded a kindle fire, a device that she will use to obtain books and reading material on the INTERNET. Almost all students these days get 90% of there information on the internet.
Instead of making a statement that speaks to practices she doesn’t like, i.e. using the internet, Noelize should encourage educators to teach the right way to use the internet. Educators need to teach students how to obtain credible information, how to properly cite others writings, and how to properly use cited works in the context of the students work regardles if they are writing an essay, article, book, etc…
Just from reading DNO, one can tell that is a lacking skill in our education system.
congratulation students, continue shinning throughout
Noelize I beg to differ, I have total respect for you but I don’t see what the problem is with internet research.
I think what she’s implying is that the participating students did not visit the IRC office for printed materials.
Trust me, she is absolutely right. Much more use must be made of books. We depend way too much on internet research as if it is all that exists.
Ironical isn’t it that the winner gets a kindle as her prize. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing all the research from the internet if the information is available there and the sources are credible. The rate at which technology is moving who can tell, those costly printed books, may well be sent to the museums shortly. We do need to recognise that technology that saves, time, effort, money is to be encouraged, and embraced.