Schools’ Competition Exhibition of selected entries
Toward the end of last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) embarked on a nationwide social project held every 10 years – the census of population and housing. The Census of Population and Housing 2021 was the 18th in a line of national censuses conducted since 1842. The census involves enumerating all residents and dwellings in Malta. Participation in the census is obligatory by law. The census is governed by national and EU law. The latter ensures the production of harmonised statistics from this project, which is comparable across the European Union.
In order to succeed in its mission, the NSO implemented a vast communication and promotional campaign. As part of this campaign, it held a competition among local schools. These were invited to ask their students to submit artworks or literary compositions depicting the essence of the census, also bringing forth the theme, ‘Everyone Matters’. The Office felt that such competition would help ground youngsters in understanding the social value of such nationwide exercise. In turn, the Office hoped, this would eventually help in them passing on this acquired knowledge and understanding to their parents and/or guardians.
Despite the schools being closed for summer holidays during the promotional campaign of the Census and COVID-19 related issues, among others, the Office still managed to garner interest in such an activity. Around 500 students from 18 schools submitted entries for the competition. It was indeed interesting to see the different interpretations, also presenting the judges with a challenge to choose the winners.
There were 12 winners in all, and as a way to give credit to all the effort made by the students, the NSO is currently holding an exhibition with a selected number of entries received. The launch of this exhibition, which was held this morning was well-received, and enjoyed by those who attended. The winners were announced and awarded their prize on the first day of the exhibition. Mr Etienne Caruana, the Director General of the NSO, handed out the trophies to the winning schools, while Mr Matthew Vella, Permanent Secretary of Education and Sport, gave the certificates, medals, and prizes to the winning students. All students will be receiving a certificate and a medal as a token of participation. The NSO would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participating schools and students for their interest and effort in putting their entries together.
The winners were:
1st in Art Primary: Daniele Ellul Year 2 of St Francis, Bormla
2nd in Art Primary: Elisa Zammit Year 6 of St Ignatius College, Qormi
3rd in Art Primary: Krista Montebello Year 5 of St Joan Antide, Gudja
1st in Art Secondary: Katrina Cauchi Year 10 of San Anton School
2nd in Art Secondary: Gaia Micallef Year 11 of San Anton School
3rd in Art Secondary: Elisa Piccinino Year 11 of St Joseph Senior School Sliema
1st in Literature Primary: Kyla Nicole Psaila Year 5 of St Joan Antide, Gudja
2nd in Literature Primary: Elysia Grech Avallone Year 5 of St Joan Antide, Gudja
3rd in Literature Primary: Mikela Barun Year 2 of St Francis Bormla
1st in Literature Secondary: Kayleigh Attard Year 8 of Our Lady Immaculate, Hamrun
2nd in Literature Secondary: Ana Fenech Year 11 of St Joseph Sliema Senior
3rd in Literature Secondary: Estella Attard Year 8 of Our Lady Immaculate, Hamrun
The opening hours of the exhibition are as follows:
Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 March: 9am – 3:45pm
Friday 18 March: 9am – 1pm