PHILIPSBURG:---The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau is delighted to announce that two students have been selected to represent St. Maarten in the 2015 Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Children's Environmental Poster Competition .
Aziza Vanterpool, (14 years old), of Milton Peters College is a finalist in the Senior category and Diya Sachdev, (11 years old) from the Rev. John A. Campus, Methodist Agogic Center, (MAC) is a finalist in the Junior category.
Their artwork was sent on to the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Selection Committee for further judging to determine who the overall winners will be of the various countries participating.
For the first part of the competition, the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association along with the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau invited all students from the Primary and Secondary schools on the island to participate in this annual contest. Several entries were received from various schools and were judged on island by local artist Ruby Bute.
The posters were to depict three ways in which the destination can make a difference in preserving the environment and each poster were to have a title. The title of the contest is "My Caribbean, Your Caribbean, To Protect and Preserve."
The FCCA Selection Committee will now choose a first, second and third place winner from the two age categories and award cash scholarships to the overall winners. This announcement will be made on June 19,2015
All other entries who made it as a finalists will also receive a cash award of US$200.00 for participating.
The FCCA will award cash scholarships to the first, second, and third place winners and their schools from the two age categories as follows:
- 1st place US$3,000.00 – for the student and US$3,000.00 for the school
- 2nd place US$1,500.00 – for the student and US$1,500.00 for the school
- 3rd place US$1000.00 – for the student and US$1000.00 for the school
St. Maarten has been participating for over 11years in this contest. The competition is part of the Bureau's annual Tourism Awareness Program targeting the in-school population.