Kodiaga Prison in Kisumu managed to have the top three best students from Western Conservation area in the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) 2015 Essay competition.
The competition was for upper primary category.
County KWS senior warden Christine Boit said the main prisons in the category was also the best nationally.
Boit said Wycliffe Otieno Okindo and Alex Olumbe scooped the first and second position in the category that saw them get certificates and gift vouchers for acquiring school books and equipment.
She said Okindo got a gift voucher worth Sh5,000, Olumbe’s voucher was Sh4,000 and Wesley Kipkorir got a voucher worth Sh3,000 in the third position.
“I am going to sit for my KCPE this year and I'll make sure to get more than 430 marks to be able to join Nakuru High because I love mathematics,” said Olumbe who is expected to be out of prison from January next year.
KWS gave out the certificates on Saturday.
In the secondary category, the winner was from Kipsani High School followed by Kisumu main prison. They both got gift vouchers of Sh10,000 and Sh7,000 respectively.
The university/tertiary institution category position was scooped by Maseno University students who were also the best in the western conservation area and also nationally.
“We had several participants and some were disqualified because the markers realised that most of the works were done by the students themselves,” said Boit.
She added that in one school, students participating had similar introduction and second paragraphs.
County Commissioner Erastus Ekidor congratulated Rekebisho Primary School in the main prisons for making the county proud.
He said the competition was an approach by KWS to address challenges like climate change, habitat loss and degradation, forest depletion, tourism markets volatility, increased wildlife crime amongst others.
He urged the students to continue working hard and those who did not receive awards this year to work harder for next year's award.