Right to Know Week Essay Competition

As part of the celebrations for Right to Know (RTK) Week (September 26 to 30), the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) is launching the 2nd RTK Week Essay Competition, along with sponsoring organizations, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), College of the North Atlantic (CNA), and Cox & Palmer.

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 for secondary and post-secondary students.

Students are asked to write on the following topic:
“In the era of Wikileaks, where should the line be drawn for access to government records?”

The winning essay writer will be awarded a prize valued at $500.00 and the essay will be published on the OIPC website and/or sponsor websites and internal publications. Second and third place entries will be awarded prizes valued at $200.00 and $100.00, respectively.

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 1,000 words, and must be submitted directly to the OIPC at the below address postmarked no later than December 31, 2011:

Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
2nd Floor, 34 Pippy Place
P.O. Box 13004, Station A
St. John’s, NL A1B 3V8
OR
commissioner@oipc.nl.ca

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

2011 09 30                           11:05 a.m.