The Cross River State Carnival Commission has unveiled the 2026 Carnival Calabar Essay and Creative Writing Competition to promote reading and writing among students and young people across the state.

The commission chairman, Gabe Onah, made the announcement in Calabar on Monday.

He said the initiative was part of efforts to promote human capital development and provide young ‘Cross Riverians’ with opportunities to demonstrate their intellectual abilities, creativity, and writing skills.

Mr Onah said the competition was designed to leverage the carnival calabar platform to create opportunities beyond entertainment and tourism, particularly in education, youth empowerment, creativity, and human capital development.

According to him, the 2026 edition will be conducted under standardised examination conditions in six centres across the three senatorial districts in the state.

“The centres are Obudu and Ogoja in the Northern senatorial district; Ikom and Ugep in the Central senatorial district; and Akamkpa and Calabar in the Southern senatorial district. The competition has two categories, with category A open to secondary school students and category B to students of tertiary institutions,” he said.

The commission chairman said the Department of Theatre and Media Studies, University of Calabar, would independently evaluate the entries after the examination to ensure credibility, fairness, and transparency.

He said the overall best contestant in the secondary school category would receive a scholarship, while the top three winners would receive laptops.

“The schools of the three winners would also receive laptops to support digital learning and teaching, while the top 10 schools would receive textbooks, branded exercise books, school bags, pens and mathematical sets.

“Similarly, the overall best contestant in the tertiary institution category would receive a scholarship, while the top three winners would receive laptops. The top five departments represented by the contestants would also receive branded hardcover books to support academic activities,” he stated.

The commission boss said the initiative aimed to stimulate renewed interest in reading and creative writing while providing educational resources to schools and tertiary institutions.

Mr Onah said the programme was also part of efforts to reposition Carnival Calabar as a platform that contributes to the intellectual and socio-economic development of young people in the state.

The commission urged students and educational institutions across the state to participate actively in the competition and take advantage of the opportunities provided to develop their knowledge, creativity, and writing skills.

(NAN)