Fourteen students were awarded prizes in the Jamaica Environment Trust’s (JET) World Oceans Day poster and story competition. The competition was held in observance of World Oceans Day on June 8^th, 2006. The theme for the competition was “Marine Mammals: The Giants of the Caribbean” and aimed to increase public awareness and appreciation for Jamaica’s marine mammals in their natural habitat.  

"Save our reggae manatees" winning poster by Bridgette Ramharrack of Immaculate

Bridgette Ramharrack of Immaculate Conception High School walked away with the top prize in the poster competition for her entry “Save our Reggae Manatees”, while Rochelle Fearon of Campion College was awarded second place for her poster entitled “Help Protect our Dolphins”.  In the story competition, the senior prize went to Sachalee Campbell of Montego Bay High School for her story “The Boycott of the Attack”, which is about a group of whales that tried to save mankind, while the junior prize went to Alysia Francis, Jillian Lee and Matthew Gordon of Hopefield Prep for their story on the effects of marine pollution on dolphins and marine ecosystems entitled “Finding Mitsy and Bobo.”  

First place winners from Hopefield Prep of the World Oceans Day story competition along with guest speaker Mr. Dayne Buddho Senior Research Officer of Institute of Jamaica

Other awardees were Romario Hudson of Bromley Primary in St. Mary and Sonia Girault of Hillel Academy in Kingston for outstanding work.  Students from Denham Town Primary received a dictionary or thesaurus from Sangsters Book Store among other prizes for submitting the most entries. 

“I am glad that we are focusing on marine mammals for World Oceans Day this year as they play a very important role in marine ecosystems. They are also very beautiful animals. We should work towards preserving these animals for future generations,” Sachalee Campbell, a student of Montego Bay High School and the first place senior winner in World Oceans Day story competition. 

The winning posters will be displayed in St. Kitts on June 15^th at a meeting for all Caribbean environmental non-governmental organizations participating in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting at the same venue on June 16^th.  All entries will be displayed in Jamaica at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) World Oceans Day exhibition on Thursday, June 8^th.