As part of the celebrations for Right to Know (RTK) Week (September 27- October 1 2010), the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) is launching the first RTK Week Essay Competition, along with sponsoring organizations, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and College of the North Atlantic (CNA).

The purpose of RTK Week is to raise awareness about people's right to access government information, while promoting freedom of information as essential to both democracy and good governance. It is hoped that the RTK Week Essay Competition will help further this purpose, particularly amongst secondary and post-secondary students.

Students are asked to write on the following topic:

"Describe how access to information held by government contributes to a healthy democracy."

The winning essay writer will be awarded a prize valued at $500.00 and the essay may be published on the OIPC website. Other essays will be selected for honourable mentions and awarded additional prizes.

This contest is open to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians studying at the secondary or post-secondary level, as well as non-residents studying at Newfoundland and Labrador secondary and post-secondary institutions. Entries are to be a maximum of 1000 words, and must be submitted directly to the OIPC at the below address postmarked no later than December 31, 2010

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
2^nd Floor, 34 Pippy Place
P.O. Box 13004, Station A
St. John's, NL A1B 3V8

For full contest details and restrictions, please see the OIPC website at www.oipc.nl.ca.

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Media contact:
Ed Ring
Information and Privacy Commissioner
709-729-6309