The Pan African Scrabble Association has named the inaugural edition of the African Youth Scrabble Championship after High Chief Winifred Awosika, founder of the Winifred Awosika Foundation, to commend her for her unwavering commitment to developing scrabble in Nigerian schools.
The African Youth Scrabble Championship is scheduled to take place from August 24 to 28 at Chrisland School, Lekki, Lagos. Awosika’s efforts in organizing scrabble tournaments for private and public schools since 2011 have been instrumental in the skills development of the participants.
While speaking at the trophy tour of the African Youth Championship held in Lagos on Tuesday, 16th May, Awosika expressed gratitude for the honour, asserting that scrabble nurtures cognitive skills in students.
She stated, “I’m grateful to the organisers of scrabble competitions in Nigeria. I organise scrabble competitions between private and public schools because I want to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. I thank the organisers for counting me worthy to be given this honour to name the African Youth Scrabble Championship in my name. I am very grateful for this wonderful honour. Scrabble is a very simple game; you just sit down and watch the children. At first, I did not understand, but God just gave me power to support and make scrabble popular in our schools, and we are doing it. This is a service to God and to humanity.”
According to Adekoyejo Adegbesan, the President of PANASA, approximately 150 children from 23 English-speaking African nations will participate in the championship, set to be held in Lagos. Acknowledging the significance of the tournament, Adegbesan said, “It’s the first of its kind, and we are expecting fun fair scrabble; it’s an English scrabble tournament. We have to limit the participation to 10 participants per country because there are many countries that want more kids to participate. The tournament is in Mrs Awosika’s name, and her foundation is a title sponsor because of what she has done for junior scrabble on the continent.”
