OUT of approximately 220 entries in the Short Story Writing Competition by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, ten winners from all across the country have been selected and will now have their stories published in a special book by the Ministry.

The following ten persons have been found to be the best authors in the competition: Aradhya Ramjag (Aaila Runs Away); Daniel Persaud (Quick Thinking); Rondel Parks (Annie Calls 914); Vanessa Ramdehooll (Puppy Love); Daniel Lalchand (Early Morning Scare); Sajid Amin (Praying for a Miracle); Giovanna George (Tickling Tommy); Rachel Davis (Fire, Fire!) Roshanie Mahadeo (The Black Coat); and Shaquana Richards (Veronica’s Father).

The ministry plans to present prizes to all of the winners who wrote their stories centred on the “Every Child Safe” campaign that was launched in September by subject minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, whose intention is to rein in the issues surrounding child abuse in Guyana.

The age group targeted was 12 years and under and the word limit was 250. Dr. Persaud, along with staff of the ministry, shared in reading and editing the pieces.

Under ‘Every Child Safe’, more is done than just seek to make information available to the public; a personal and consistent check-in with members of communities all across Guyana is carried out for help to identify perpetrators and bring relief to sufferers.

“These communities become essential partners of ours, so that wherever child abuse rears its ugly head, we will be able to know because there are people out there as our eyes and ears. Perpetrators will have the eyes of an entire community on them; so no one can escape that kind of scrutiny,” Dr. Persaud has explained.

This partnership sees heightened vigilance on child abuse in communities and people will now be aware of crimes that they should look out for and how they should report cases of child abuse utilising the 914 hotline and all the other avenues available to them.