Tatyana McLean, Camesha Petrie, and Brandon Whittaker of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) have been announced as the winners of this year’s International Institute of Communications (IIC) Future Leaders’ Competition.

The Future Leaders’ Competition, now in its fifth year, encourages and promotes original thought in the areas of communications and policy.

Writing on the topic ‘Across the Metaverse: Policy Priorities’, competition entrants were challenged with crafting an essay considering new ways of digitally communicating and interacting, and challenges for policymakers and regulators.

In its announcement on August 1, the IIC indicated that judges were “wowed” by the winning essay titled, ‘Finding the Balance in Metaverse Regulation: Pivoting from our Errors’ which was co-authored by the trio.

McLean is a research assistant and a risk champion at the BCJ, while Petrie and Whittaker are research interns in the BCJ’s Research Department and graduate students in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

In responding to the IIC’s announcement, Cordel Green, Executive Director of the BCJ said, “We are extremely proud of the team and their deeply informed contribution to the global discourse on the metaverse and regulation in the digital age. This award further cements the value of youth perspectives on matters that are critical to the development of our country and the world”.

2022 Future Leader’s Competition entrants were expected to create a picture of how they envision the world evolving and to consider whether steps should be taken now to help shape its future, or whether the sector should be left to develop without direct policy intervention.

“The vision Tatyana, Brandon, and Camesha shared through their essay supports the BCJ’s position that there needs to be careful and proactive policy action and reform of the wider regulatory framework to support a safe, wealth-generating, and empowering digital economy and society”, Green further said.

In reflecting on their selection, the co-authors shared, “Having our essay selected has given us an immeasurably and unbelievably overwhelming feeling. The journey through researching for and writing this essay was really daunting but it was exciting and it elucidated many pertinent realities about online experiences worldwide that youth from developing countries should become cognizant of ”.

This November 3-4, the trio is expected to be represented by McLean who will present the team’s essay at the IIC’s 53rd Annual Conference to be held this year in Canada.

The winning essay was selected by a six-member judging panel that consisted of representatives from several entities; among them were the Walt Disney Company, telecommunications company – Ericsson, Canada’s McMaster University, and the IIC Australia Chapter.

The winning essay may be viewed by clicking here.