Pope Paul IV Secondary School, which is found in Nwoya District, emerged as the winners of this years’ Transitional Justice (TJ) School Quiz Competition. It was a time of joy and sadness for the winners and those who had not won. The best female student (Sharon Lakaraber from Awere Secondary School in Gulu District) and the best male student (Simon Okot from Pajule Secondary School in Pader District) were each recognized with a cash price of 50.000/= while the winning school walked away with a cash prize of 500.000/= and the first runner up was Kitgum High School with a cash price of 400.000/= and a trophy handed over by the Chairman of the Justice and Reconciliation Board of Directors Mr. Michael Otim, the Gulu District Speaker and the LCIII Chairman.
The TJ Quiz Competition final was guided by the theme “Everybody Counts: Voices of Young People in Transitional Justice” and it took place in Gulu district at Sir Samuel Baker school on the 20thof September 2012. The Regional Competition had begun with an elimination round with the highest scoring team from all of the District Competitions being exempted from competing in the elimination round and being allowed to automatically proceed to the finals. The remaining four teams selected a number between 1 and 4 from a lottery and faced off in two short competitions consisting of one wild card and one lightning round. The team which emerged with the lowest score of the four was eliminated from the competition. In general the Quiz was stiff and very competitive which made it hard to tell who the winners would be.
In the spirit of competition, the runners-up, Kitgum High School, sent the following warning to their rivals: ”Next year we are taking the trophy that belongs to the winner and giving ours to Pope Paul IV and we will retain it for as long as the transitional justice school quiz is still a programme.”