On the occasion of marking the Statehood Day, the Consulate General of the Republic of Serbia in Banja Luka announced the traditional literary competition for the best essay titled "My Friends in Serbia". Numerous participants attending 92 high schools from the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, took part in the competition.

The prize money was awarded by the Commercial Bank Banja Luka. Nikolina Ninkovic, a student of Jovan Ducic High School from Trebinje won the first prize of KM 1,000, while Adnan Selimovic from the Prnjavor High School PI and Nikola Petrovic from the Banja Luka High School PI were awarded the second and third prize of KM 500.



Consul General Vladimir Nikolic and representatives of the Commercial Bank awarded the prizes at the offices of the Consulate General, on 9 and 12 February 2018.



Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska Dane Malesevic, Director of the Republic of Srpska's Pedagogical Institute Predrag Damjanovic and Headteachers of the Banja Luka and Prnjavor High Schools, together with their associates, attended the award presentation ceremony.