The UWI’s Planning Unit for Jamaican Language, the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of Literatures in English launched the Jamaican Language Schools Literary Competition on Wednesday, August 14. The competition which has received the support of the Ministry of Education, aims to encourage creative writing in the language, which the children know best, Jamaican. It is being guided by the fact that literacy skills are best developed first in the native language, which for most children in Jamaica is Jamaican. It also aims therefore, to spark widespread interest in creative writing amongst school children and encourage the development of literacy skills in English, the main language of education in Jamaica. The competition is also designed to honour the life and work of the Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou) who attended the ceremony. Miss Lou in her remarks recounted her early efforts to have her poems published and her experiences while studying in Britain. Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Professor Aggrey Brown, noted that Miss Lou has used laughter to revolutionize our language. He also paid tribute to the Head of the Jamaican Language Unit, Professor Hubert Devonish for bringing the issue of the use of the Jamaican language in a formal way to the national agenda. The Jamaican Language Schools Literary Competition will promote the use of a standard writing system, the Cassidy Orthography. It will have two categories, prose and poetry and will be open to school children of grades 5 and 6 beginning in the academic year 2003-04.