Under the leadership of Amir Yaya Sillah, the Al Karaama Society staged the fourth edition the annual Amir Book Award on Sunday with 150 students competing for D40, 000 cash prize donated by the Amir himself
The competition was launched in 2022,by the Al Karaama Society under the slogan “My Gambia, Read to Lead the Wolrd” reading campaign, to encourage children to read and research more in the pursuit of a better life.
Jainaba Sillah daughter of the initiator Amir Sillah reminded the audience that her father’s philosophy about knowledge is that one must read the books to better one’s life because it is books that connects the past, present and the future.
“Reading makes one a smart person and more books makes person a genius. The Amir Book Award is all about celebrating knowledge and culture heritage,” she told the audience.
Other speakers at the event included famous Gambian author, Dr Seedy Drammeh and Mr Michael Hamadi Secka, a retired educationalist both of who called on the Gambians to cultivate the culture of reading and research.
The reading competition attracted hundreds of students from different schools in the Greater Banjul Area.
Amir Sillah hopes that such an initiative will encourage the children to read for pleasure and research in order to broaden their horizon. It is part of his effort to promote Gambia’s literature both home and abroad. So far, the campaign has donated hundreds of books authored by local writers to different schools across the country. The number of participants has been growing every year.
