A scene at the Ace Spoken Word Contest. INSET:Matthew Asada
Fourteen out of 27 schools have made it to the semifinals of the Ace Spoken Word Contest after impressive performances in the Greater Accra Region. The participants were selected from various schools in the capital and competed in six groups for a chance to reach the semifinals.
The schools include Presbyterian Secondary School – Legon (PRESEC – Legon), Forces Senior High Technical School, O’Reilly Senior High, Achimota School, Ghana Christian High International School, Tema Secondary School.
Additionally, Odorgonno Senior High, Accra Girls SHS, Kwabenya Community SHS, Accra High School, Labone SHS, Chemu SHTS, Nungua SHS, and Our Lady of Mercy Senior High School.
Organisers have indicated that a 15th school will be chosen later to join those already qualified for the semifinals, as two schools are currently tied on points.
In the first contest held on Friday, PRESEC – Legon competed against Fafraha Community SHS, Forces SHTS, and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS. PRESEC and Forces SHS emerged as the top performers in this group, scoring 85 and 71 points, respectively.
The second contest featured O’Reilly SHS against PRESEC – La, Achimota School, and Accra Wesley Girls’ SHS, with O’Reilly and Achimota leading this group with scores of 88 and 80 points.
The third contest included Ghana Christian International High School, Tema Secondary School (Temasco), PRESEC – Osu, Accra Academy, and Odorgonno Senior High School. Ghana Christian International topped this group with 87 points, while Temasco and Odorgonno tied for second place with 85 points each.
In the fourth contest, Accra Girls SHS triumphed over Kwabenya Community SHS, Kinbu SHS, PRESEC – Teshie, and St. Mary’s SHS in the fourth contest, scoring 87 points. Kwabenya also advanced with a score of 78.
In contest five, Accra High School narrowly claimed victory with 82 points, just edging out Labone SHS and Chemu SHTS, who both scored 80 points. Nungua SHS won the final round with 78 points, followed closely by Our Lady of Mercy SHS with 76 points; Christian Methodist SHS finished third with 70 points and was eliminated from the competition.
Press Attaché at the American Embassy, Matthew Asada, in his opening remarks expressed the Embassy’s delight to be a part of the event, especially as it coincides with America’s 250th Independence Anniversary.
He said, “today’s competition embodies the freedoms we celebrate: freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom of speech. Spoken word is where poetry meets performance, where ideas meet action—just as our American founding fathers used their words to declare independence.”
Executive Director of ACE Consult, the organisers of the Spoken Word Competition, Marilyn Owusu, said that their goal is to cultivate strong public speaking skills among participants.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke