Camperdown students to compete for $1m top prize in essay competition
Published:Monday | April 14, 2025 | 12:08 AM
Camperdown High School in east Kingston is one of two schools chosen to participate in an essay competition in which the student with the best essay wins $1 million.
Fifty students from Camperdown will participate in the competition.
Jamaica’s consul general in New York, Alsion Wilson, told The Gleaner recently that the second school to participate in the competition had not yet been finalised as discussions are still ongoing.
Fifty students from the second school will also compete for the top prize.
There are plans to select two students to win the top prize of $1 million each as another sponsor has come onboard to put up the funds.
Students selected for the essay competition will write an essay after reading the book The Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason.
One hundred copies of the book will be distributed to the students who will be participating in the competition
The competition is expected to commence by the middle of next month and students will have two weeks to read the book and submit their essays.
The $1-million prize for the students with the winning essay will be vested for two years in the Jamaican stock market with aim of building wealth.
The other 98 students will also have investment accounts opened in their names by the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), but the amount to be invested is still to be determined. Their winnings will also be vested for two years
The Richest Man In Babylon is a classic book on personal finance and wealth-building.
After reading the book, the students will submit an essay summarising the key lessons they have learned.
From these submissions, the top essays will be selected.
The announcement of the essay competition was made by Wilson when she spoke at the Jamaica Stock Exchange regional investments and capital markets conference held in Jamaica earlier this year.
“The aim is to help to build generational wealth for the student and his/her family,” she told The Gleaner.
Long-term wealth building
The consul general said she envisions that, over the two years, the funds could grow significantly, aligning with the principles of long-term wealth building.
The competition will be a joint initiative between the JSE, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and the Jamaican consulate in New York.
Its purpose is to ignite a culture of financial literacy and investment among young Jamaicans, equipping them with the tools to build sustainable wealth for themselves and, by extension, the country and their communities, the consul general said.
The consulate and the foreign affairs ministry will oversee all aspects of the programme to guarantee transparency and the achievement of its goals.
The initiative is further enhanced by the long-term vision of its sponsor, who has pledged a three-year commitment with the possibility of renewal, but wishes to remain anonymous.
Wilson said another goal of the programme is to have participants mentor other high school students on investing in the financial markets.
An official announcement is expected next month when members of the JSE go to New York for a series of investment meetings.
Further details of the programme are expected to be outlined then.