The 2026 Overall Best Law Student of the Ghana School of Law, Akosua Achia Sarpong, Esq., has shared her initial reaction to being named the overall best student in her cohort.
In an interview with Nikki Samonas on Joy Prime’s Changes show, she revealed that she had never envisioned herself emerging as the overall best student, although she had hoped to win an award in a specific course category.
Having witnessed the intelligence of her colleagues throughout their studies at the school, she believes that everyone deserved the award, making her victory a favour from God.
During the conversation, Nikki asked, “How did you feel when your name was mentioned?”
“I was in so much disbelieve and I was also very excited and also very grateful to God. I just kept looking back at the journey; the late nights, all the intensive studying and I was just really so grateful to God because I believe that everybody that has been called to the Bar learnt well. So for me to have come out as the best, I just know it was the special work of God. I was just too grateful,” she responded.
She added that she had doubted her ability to achieve such a milestone, considering that she was not the valedictorian of her cohort at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), yet she found herself in law school among students who had achieved such distinctions.
“There are a lot of brilliant minds and intelligent people in KNUST and in the legal profession; and in my time at KNUST, I wasn’t valedictorian. I mean I was part of the top 10 but I wasn’t valedictorian so looking at all those brilliant and intelligent people, I just was not imagining myself being the best of them all.”
Although she experienced moments of doubt, the thought of giving up never crossed her mind. According to her, the strong support she received from her family back home motivated and strengthened her to study harder.
Speaking about competition, the lawyer said she never viewed any of her colleagues or friends as competitors, as she believes collaboration and togetherness are key to achieving excellence in the study of law.
She explained that group studies played an important role in her academic journey, helping her and her colleagues gain a better understanding of the subject. She added that she believes in achieving success together.
“I know that the legal profession isn’t really one where you have to compete with people. It’s more like you have to corporate and then collaborate. So competition isn’t really something that I felt or something that I think came up. It was more like let’s all corporate and get called to the Bar successfully because truthfully, if you compete with your colleagues and get called to the Bar alone, it’s not nice,” she said.
Akosua Achiaa Sarpong, a graduate of the KNUST Faculty of Law, was named the overall best student at the 63rd Call to the Bar.
She won the John Mensah Sarbah Award for the best all-round performance in the Professional Law Examinations, as well as the prize for Best Student in Civil Procedure.
Her achievement marks the 11th time a graduate of the KNUST Faculty of Law has won the Sarbah Award since 2011. It is also the fourth consecutive year that a KNUST law graduate has received the award, following wins in 2023, 2024 and 2025.