Objectives

To encourage secondary schools students in Hong Kong to express their thoughts on social affairs and related subjects that they read about in news every day.
To increase their confidence in learning and also improve their English writing skills at the same time.
To assist school teachers with preparing English writing assignments for students.
To share well-written essays with the public through the Junior Standard and Student Standard.

New Special Award

This year, a new category has been created for a special award – the Energetic Teens Award, sponsored by SuperPark Hong Kong. Students are required to take a photo of a sports activity or event, and to write 50–100 words to describe the photo.
*Both junior and senior students will be counted in one group; the best entries will be shortlisted to be in contention for the overall Champion, First Runner-Up and Second Runner-Up awards.

Eligibility

All local secondary schools students (Grade 7 or upper students of international schools)

* Students can enter either the junior (S1-S3 / G7-9) group or the senior group (S4-S6 / G10-G12) to win an award (not applied to Energetic Teens Award, please refer the special note above); students can submit more than one entry throughout the Competition.

Individual and School awards

There are four category awards for the junior group and eight category awards for the senior group.

Students entering the junior group are required to write an article based on one of the four electives:

Categories for Junior Group
Debating	Short Stories	Popular Culture	Social Issues

Students from the senior group have to write an article based on one of the eight electives:

Categories for Senior Group
Sports Communication	Drama	Poems and Songs	Debating
Short Stories	Popular Culture	Workplace Communication	Social Issues

The winners of each group in each category will be shortlisted to be chosen as the overall Champion, First Runner-Up and Second Runner-Up. A further five merit awards will also be presented.

The school with the highest number of entries submitted using the 'School Submission Form*' will also be awarded.

Essay types

Students tackle one of the eight electives by writing a short essay (For the categories of Drama and Poems and Songs, students can either compose drama scripts, poems or song lyrics, or write a critical review on a drama they have watched, a poem they have read and a song they have listened to). The students must decide which category their writing fits in and submit it within the time period as shown below.

To win the Energetic Teens Award, students need to take a photo of a sports activity or event. They are also required to write 50–100 words to describe and explain the photo.

Competition schedule
Submission period	Now – 30 June 2020
Result announcement	August 2020

Awards and Prizes details – Junior Group
Category awards	Debating Short Stories Popular Culture Social Issues	Scoring criteria: Knowledge of the subjects; displays a critical-thinking mind; logic (flow of writing); originality; ability to arouse readers’ interest; fluency; written quality (grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.)	A certificate
Writer awards	Champion First Runner-Up Second Runner-Up	These awards will be selected among the eight winners of the category awards.	A trophy + A certificate
Merit awards	Merits x 5		A certificate

Awards and Prizes details – Senior Group
Category awards	Sports Communication Drama Poem and Songs Debating Short Stories Popular Culture Workplace Communication Social Issues	Scoring criteria: Knowledge of the subjects; displays a critical-thinking mind; logic (flow of writing); originality; ability to arouse readers’ interest; fluency; written quality (grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.)	A certificate
Writer awards	Champion First Runner-Up Second Runner-Up	These awards will be selected among the eight winners of the category awards.	A trophy + A certificate
Merit awards	Merits x 5		A certificate

Other prizes
Energetic Teens Award	Champion First Runner-Up Second Runner-Up	Scoring criteria: Uniqueness of concept, visual design, audience appeal, written quality (grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.)	A certificate + Free admission tickets of SuperPark Hong Kong
Most Participating School award	The highest number of entries submitted with the ‘School Submission Form*’		A certificate

Competition Rules

Eligibility	All local secondary schools students (Grade 7 or upper students of international schools) * Students can enter either the junior (S1-S3 / G7-G9) group or the senior group (S4-S6 / G10-G12) to win an award
Language	English only
Format	Entries must be submitted either online or in paper format (A4) by post. All other formats such as through e-mail or fax will not be accepted.
Writing Limit	300 words – 1000 words in general For categories such as Drama and Poems & Songs, if students are composing a drama script or song lyrics etc., the word limitation is rather flexible, as long as students can express their ideas clearly For Energetic Teens Awards, the word limitation for composing the picture story is 50 – 100 words.
Judging criteria	Knowledge of the subject; displays a critical-thinking mind; logic (flow of writing); originality; ability to arouse readers’ interest; fluency; written quality (grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.)
Judges	A panel of judges comprising teachers, authors and news editors
Submission period	Now – 30 June 2020

* In order to win the Most Participating School award, all entries must be submitted by a representative of the school in paper format by post. A valid 'School Submission Form' must be completed and stamped with the school chop.

Terms and Regulations:
1.	Participants must specify the category their writing fits in and submit all entries by 30 June 2020.
2.	For an individual submission, an entry can be submitted either by online or in paper format by post. A valid 'Individual Submission Form' must be completed and submitted with the entry. If it is submitted in paper format, please mark the envelope as 'English Writing Competition - Individual' and send by post to The Standard Marketing, 3/F, Sing Tao News Corporation Building, 7 Chun Cheong Street, Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong.
3.	For a school submission, all entries must be submitted in paper format by a representative of the school. A valid 'School Submission Form' must be completed and stamped with the school chop. Only these entries will be eligible for the school award. Each school can submit more than once throughout the Competition. Please mark the envelope as 'English Writing Competition - School' and send by post to The Standard Marketing, 3/F, Sing Tao News Corporation Building, 7 Chun Cheong Street, Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories, Hong Kong.
4.	The final results will be announced in August 2020 on www.thestandard.com.hk. Only the winners will be notified.
5.	The decision of the panel of judges is final and is not subject to appeal.
6.	Staff and relatives of Sing Tao News Corporation cannot join the competition.
7.	If the submission form is not enclosed or the entry form has not been filled in properly, the entry will be disqualified.
8.	Participants can submit more than one entry. Each entry must be the participant's original work. Any form of plagiarism will result in disqualification.
9.	If the participant is found to have violated the terms of the competition, copyright or other Hong Kong legislation, the entry will be disqualified.
10.	Copyright of all entries belongs to The Standard. We have the right to duplicate, issue, publish or adopt the entries for any other purposes. We may publish any of the entries on the official publications or other formats for marketing purposes.
11.	The Standard has the final decision on all details related to the competition, and reserves the right to revise the details without prior announcement.

For queries please email us at marketing@thestandard.com.hk .