Writing Olympics

Azerbaijan takes part in the Writing Olympics (WO) which is a really amazing way for PCV's to celebrate students creative English writing skills.

"Writing Olympics was created in 2003 by a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Georgia. The volunteer sought to give students an opportunity for creative self-expression and to practice their English skills. Azerbaijani students joined the Writing Olympics competition in 2005. The competition initially expanded to Caucasus countries and has since expanded to 11 Peace Corps countries across the globe. Writing Olympics takes place annually during a 3-day period. On these days, students have one hour to compose essays on selected creative writing prompts. The essays are then evaluated by a panel of judges for creativity, originality, and depth of thought."

At the end of March I held the WO at my school and had six students present. Luckily one of them placed. Not only did she place but she got 1st place in Azerbaijan! She has been working with PCV's for a few years now and she is not my student so much as she is a community member who has helped me out a lot with camp last year. She is very enthusiastic about learning English which is how she found me and how she was able to come in for one hour and write a really great essay. After receiving 1st place her essay was sent abroad and she won 2nd place! Congrats Mindy!The Azerbaijan WO will have a ceremony to congratulate all of the winners, giving prizes and certificates. Mindy will be heading to Baku to accept her 1st place prize sometime this summer. WO committee s created a grant that you can donate to:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=314-080

Take a look and anytime you feel a little giving, head over to the Peace Corps PCPP website and you can find many different projects from PCV's all over the world to donate to. $5 is helpful as is $500, anything is appreciated.