 A TikTok competition has been launched by the Ministry of Tourism, geared towards selecting St. Lucia's 2022 Junior Minister of Tourism and representative for the Caribbean Tourism Organization Youth Congress. In years past, the selected candidate would be the winner of the Ministry of Tourism's annual tourism speaking competition. Sadly, the advent of COVID-19 placed a hold on both the competition and the Youth Congress. However, in February, it was announced that the Youth Congress will be resuming this year, and thus, the TikTok competition has been launched with the aim of choosing St. Lucia's candidate. Tourism officer within the Ministry of Tourism, Samantha Charles, elaborates. In order to ensure increased participation, we decided not to go the usual route of asking schools to participate in the public speaking. So, we agreed at the Ministry, and that was endorsed by Dr. Meyer, that we would launch a TikTok video competition. We all know that St. Lucia is the best island in the Eastern Caribbean. That is a fact. However, we felt it would be a good idea to get some feedback from students as to why my island is the best. So, the TikTok video will be a one-minute video on why my island is the best. So, it's open to students ages 14 to 17, as this is the age group that CTO has depleted that has not changed. So, we need to stick within that age group. We have set clear guidelines and structure for putting the video together because it is a school initiative, and we would like students to adhere to all the regulations as any ordinary school activity. So, there are clear guidelines. So, interested students can submit their videos using various tourism-related backgrounds or a plain background, and what we will be critiquing the video on is the students' ability to display knowledge of St. Lucia as a tourism destination. The officer went on to give insights into the ways that interested students can enter the competition. There is an email address that set up tourism public speaking 2022, where students kind of load their videos and their registration form. All students may opt to visit the Ministry of Tourism to get their registration form, or they can call the reception desk at 468 4629, and they can indicate their interests and the form can be sent to them. Dr. Claudia Louie, Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, spoke to her ministry's pleasure in joining forces with the Ministry of Tourism on the initiative. On behalf of the Ministry of Education and the Chief Education Officer, Dr. Meyer, the ministry is very pleased to partner with the Ministry of Tourism on this exciting initiative. I would like to congratulate the ministry as well on using a technology platform that will appeal to the students. Since the pandemic, we know that there has been intensified efforts in the use of ICT in the education sector, and there is an appetite for use of the technology. So I have no doubt that students will be excited, along with their teachers, to participate. There are several benefits to participation in this competition. Number one is going to have a connection. It's going to connect the students to the tourism sector, which is our main economic driver. And it is also going to demonstrate to the students that learning can be fun. We therefore encourage widespread participation from schools. The students also can benefit personally from winning some prizes. The first-place prize winner, along with the Honour of being selected as Junior Minister of Tourism, will also win a trophy, laptop, and an education voucher valued at $1,000 E.C.