The Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation has upped the prize for science projects in the annual Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival (HIASFEST) to N1,000,000. The National Coordinator HIASFEST, Makama Shekwo’aga, announced in a statement issued 8 June 2023.
This follows an earlier proclamation by the initiator of HIASFEST, Alhaji Bala Abdullahi Kwatu, at the finals of the 2023 edition that the overall winner of the festival would get N1m as a grant for a GRAND HIASFEST SCIENCE PROJECT outside the ones for the previous editions.
Mr Makama Shekwo’aga said Himma International College, Minna, which won the 2023 edition, were already qualified for the grant. Mr Shekwo’aga said the grant is ready for collection if Himma International College satisfies some requirements.
The conditions for accessing the grant include submission of a proposed science project for which the grant is instituted. Experts from the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation are expected to evaluate the proposal, and once satisfied, the award ceremony will take place at the headquarters of the Foundation, which is primarily focused on promoting art among teenagers.
According to Mr Shekwo’aga, the awardee school has five months to finish the said project. “Thereafter, they will organise a demonstration show in their school with HCAF in attendance. A similar exhibition would be required at the finals of HIASFEST 2024,” the HCAF National Coordinator added.
HCAF lays emphasis on originality and insists that the science project being entered for the grant must be original to the author or authors, “a thing conceived, designed and produced by a student or students of the school.” The organisation indemnifies itself and the initiator from “any litigation on an infringement of copyrights or a stolen piece of existing idea or product, that would be the sole business of the student, students and the school.”
Another condition for accessing the grant is social relevance of the project. “It must be fresh and new, creative and innovative, shocking with high elements of surprises, functional and useful to the immediate community,” the guidelines said.
The Foundation also emphasised that the project must be sustainable, solving contemporary social problems and addressing the future of mankind.
The project proposal is expected to be submitted between 20 and 30 June, 2023, while the award ceremony is scheduled for the first week of July, or earlier, if the school (Himma) submits earlier than the scheduled time.
HIASFEST is a national festival for all secondary schools in Nigeria. It is open to children whose schools are not attending the current edition; their homes can register them to participate in any or all of the numerous categories, awards and prizes. Registration for HIASFEST 2024 opens in July 2023 with applicants sending mails to hilltopcart@gmail.com.
HIASFEST is sponsored by Alhaji Bala Abdullahi Kwatu in memory of the deceased wife of Malam Ibrahim Aliyu, Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu. The festival comprises of contests in poetry writing, story writing, cultural dance, painting, spoken word, craft, songs in English, and quizzes. The festival also sponsors a scholarship scheme for two university students in 200 levels, one in engineering and one in the arts. The festival is organised by Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Minna, founded and mentored by award-winning thinker and writer BM Dzukogi.
