Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
Executive Council
July 23, 2015

Right to Know (RTK) Week 2014 Essay Competition Winners

As part of the celebrations for Right to Know (RTK) Week 2014, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) and the Office of Public Engagement (OPE) launched the fourth RTK Week Essay Competition, along with co-sponsors Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and College of the North Atlantic (CNA).

The purpose of RTK Week is to raise awareness of everyone’s right to access government information, while promoting freedom of information as essential to both democracy and good governance. The RTK Week Essay Competition helps further this purpose, particularly amongst secondary and post-secondary students. Entrants were asked to write on the timely topic of ‘Open Government.’ In 2014, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador launched its Open Government Initiative, joining other governments across Canada and around the world in committing to principles of transparency, accountability, participation and collaboration. In reflecting upon this development, students were asked to address: What does ‘Open Government’ mean to you?

The winning essay in the competition was written by Ashley Edison (Grade 11, Corner Brook Regional High School), who will be awarded a prize valued at $500.00 and whose essay will be published on the OIPC and OPE websites. Second place (prize valued at $200.00) was awarded to Alishussein Noordin (MUN graduate program), and third place (prize valued at $100.00) went to Dawn Kearney (Grade 10, Sacred Heart All Grade in Conche). All three were chosen anonymously by a panel of judges representing the organizations involved.

The interest in the competition was high, as was the quality of submissions received. The OIPC, OPE, MUN, and CNA would like to extend congratulations to the winning essay writers, as well as all who participated in the competition, and look forward to the fifth RTK Week Essay Competition launching in September 2015.

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

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Media contacts:

Ed Ring Information and Privacy Commissioner (709) 729-6309	Kip Bonnell Communications Manager Office of Public Engagement kbonnell@gov.nl.ca 709-729-1221, 687-9081
Roger Hulan Communications Specialist College of the North Atlantic roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca 709-643-7938

2015 07 23                              9:40 a.m.