Pasha Bank and the British Council Announce the Winners of Essay Competition 2013

The judges received over 70 applications, which were of a very high standard. Elizabeth White, a British Council Director, assessed all the applications personally and commented: "As a newcomer to Azerbaijan, being involved in this competition for the first time, I am very much impressed by the quality of writing. Without exception, the applicants have devoted great care and considerable thought to their essays, which display original thinking at levels which are quite remarkable for undergraduate writing".

Mr Farid Akhundov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pasha Bank, commented: "These interviews gave me the chance to meet a highly impressive group of young people -intelligent, ambitious and full of ideas . They all showed great promise and gave give me confidence in the abilities of the next generation of economists and finance specialists. I wish them all well, and look forward to seeing their careers develop in the future".

There were three stages in the selection process: the initial essay review followed by two interviews. Selecting the competition winners was not easy an easy process given the strong motivation, intellectual ability and personal attributes of the applicants.

Ten candidates reached the final stage of the process, which was an interview with Mr Farid Akhundov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pasha Bank, Sona Abbasova, Director of Pasha Bank's Public Relations and Marketing Department, Aynura Piriyeva, Lead Manager of PR and Marketing at Pasha Bank and Elizabeth White from the British Council. After this final interview, the panel agreed on the winners.

The three equal first prize winners, who win a scholarship to study summer school courses in Business and Management at King's College London are:

Gunay Gozalova, student of Azerbaijan State Economic University
Jeyhun Huseynov, student of Azerbaijan State Economic University
Ismayil Mirhadi, student of Azerbaijan State Economic university


The second prize winner, who wins a laptop is:
Toghrul Novruzlu , student of Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy

The third prize winner, who wins an iPad is:
Zamir Salmanov, student of Qafqaz University