Accra Girls’ Senior High School has emerged as the winner of the maiden Greater Accra edition of the ACE Spoken Word Competition, narrowly defeating Ghana Christian International High School (GCIHS) by a single point in a fiercely contested grand finale held at the Cedi Conference Center of the University of Ghana on Friday, 5 June, 2026.

The competition, sponsored by the United States Embassy and facilitated by ACE Consult Ltd, brought together students from 27 senior high schools across the Greater Accra Region under the theme “World Cup 2026: When the Whistle Blows, Borders Fade”.

After three rounds of competition, Accra Girls’ SHS secured 86 points to claim the top prize, while GCIHS finished second with 85 points.

Forces’ Senior High Technical School placed third with 77 points, while O’Reilly Senior High School came fourth with 75 points.

Accra Girls’ SHS took an early lead during the first round, which featured spoken word performances and dramatisations. The school maintained its advantage in the second round, a general knowledge quiz, before holding off a strong challenge from GCIHS in the final improvisation round.

Contestants in the final round were given random keywords and tasked with writing and performing original poems before judges and the audience.

For winning the competition, Accra Girls’ SHS received a trophy, certificates, a citation, stationery items, and a cash prize of GH¢7,000.

Ghana Christian International High School received GH¢5,000 and certificates for placing second, while Forces’ Senior High Technical School and O’Reilly Senior High School received GH¢3,000 and GH¢2,000 respectively, alongside certificates.

Executive Director of ACE Consult, Marilyn Owusu, said the competition was designed to nurture critical thinking, creativity, and public speaking skills among young people.

Speaking to the media, she explained that students are challenged to develop and perform spoken word pieces, often under pressure, to build confidence and sharpen their communication abilities.

“The idea is to empower our students to become critical thinkers and confident speakers who can express themselves effectively before any audience,” she said.

Mrs Owusu noted that the competition was first introduced in Kumasi in 2024 and has grown significantly, attracting dozens of schools. The 2026 edition marked its expansion into the Greater Accra Region.

Acting Public Affairs Officer at the United States Embassy, Matthew Asada, said the Embassy was pleased to support the initiative, particularly as the United States prepares to co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico.

“We’re very proud to partner with Ace Consult on the inaugural edition of the Spoken Word Competition here and across. We’ve been doing this for three years in Kumasi, but this is the first time in Accra. I am very excited, especially given the theme of this year’s competition. It was all about sports, sports diplomacy,” he said.

He noted that the competition forms part of a series of educational and cultural activities linked to the tournament and aimed at promoting leadership, creativity and cross-cultural engagement among young people.

“So we’ve been very excited to program on the countdown to the World Cup for the last year and whether it’s the American Center at the U.S. embassy in Accra or American space in Kumasi, or American space here in Agbogba, Academic City, we’ve been doing things on sporting culture, on culinary cooking culture, on the arts, on sports integrity, and, again, preventing trafficking that’s related to sports. So we’ve done a series of programs across the last year, and we’re very excited that this is our final event before the tournament starts next week,” Asada said.

The ACE Spoken Word Competition is an annual platform that encourages students to develop their writing, performance, and critical-thinking skills through poetry and spoken word presentations.

Report by Clankson Acheampong for Asaase News in Accra.