Asia Writes: National Heritage Board Story Writing Competition ...

Deadline: 1 May 2012

What do a magical hornbill, a jewelled hairpiece and an old, yellowed official document have in common? Let your imagination take flight as we invite young and old to showcase your creative-writing skills!

This year, the National Heritage Board (NHB) and the National Library Board (NLB) together with the National Day Parade 2012 EXCO are jointly organising 'Arte(factually) Speaking', a story writing competition based on the artefacts found in the NHB National Museums' and National Archives' collections, the NLB's rare books collection and the Army Museum's collection.

So what are you waiting for? Bring out that storyteller in you through this story-writing competition and stand to win great prizes! Selected stories will also be published in a special book to be included in this year's NDP Fun Pack.

OPEN CATEGORY PRIZES

• First Prize: $300 Cash + 1 pair of NDP 2012 preview tickets
• Second Prize: $250 Cash + 1 pair of NDP 2012 preview tickets
• Third Prize: $200 Cash + 1 pair of NDP 2012 preview tickets
• Three Merit Awards: $100 Cash

COMPETITION OBJECTIVES

The competition invites all participants to express their thoughts and feelings on the things they love about our home, Singapore, through story-writing, based on the artefact collections of the National Heritage Board, the National Library Board and the Army Museum. The story can be in the form of a written passage or in the form of a comic strip of up to one A4 page.

WHO MAY PARTICIPATE

This contest is open to all Singaporean Citizens, permanent residents and Singapore residents. For the school categories, participants must be primary, or secondary school students enrolled in a primary, or secondary school in Singapore, be it a local or foreign school.

THERE ARE SEVEN COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

• Lower Primary category - for Primary 1 to Primary 3 students (or their age equivalent)
• Upper Primary category - for Primary 4 to Primary 6 students (or their age equivalent)
• Lower Secondary category - for Secondary 1 to Secondary 2 students (or their age equivalent)
• Upper Secondary category - for Secondary 3 to Secondary 4 students (or their age equivalent)
• Open category - for all other participants
• Teachers'/Educators category - for full time teachers and educators of any school in Singapore, be it a local or foreign school
• Special category (Comic Strip) - for eligible participants of all ages

*Note: Students in integrated schools will be categorised under the different categories based on their age.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Participants are required to write a short story based the theme of "Loving Singapore, Our Home". The story must feature at least one of the artefacts from the list provided by the organisers. The word limit for the written passage option for each competition category is as follows:

• Lower Primary category: between 100 - 300 words
• Upper Primary category: between 200 - 400 words
• Lower Secondary category: between 350 - 600 words
• Upper Secondary category: between 500 - 700 words
• Open category: between 1000 - 1200 words
• Teachers'/Educators categories: between 1000 - 1200 words
• Special category (Comic Strip): 1 A4 page

Participants may visit www.mystory.sg/storycontest for the list and images of the selected artefacts, together with a short write-up of the artefact and information on how to view the actual artefacts should you choose to do so. Where possible, a visit to see the actual artefact is strongly recommended although it is not compulsory.

Participants have to use at least one artefact as the inspiration for their short story. Although the story may be fictional, the artefacts have to be depicted in the correct context based on the writeups provided for at www.mystory.sg/storycontest, in terms of its origins, its uses and more. For example, if the artefact was made during the Tang period of Chinese history and was used as a burial item, then this fact can be used as the basis to weave a story around the potter who created it, his family, etc., or even about the royal family member buried with that item. Alternatively, the participant could also use the artefact or artefacts to write a story based on past or current times. For the National Library Board's collection of rare books and documents only, the stories may be based on the events mentioned in the books, letter or newspaper clip. In this case, the story need not mention or refer to NLB's artefacts.

Artefacts are required to be mentioned in entries.

There is no limit to the number of artefacts that may be used in the story. Participants may choose to use the artefacts from one institution or artefacts from different institutions.
Entries must be the sole, original and unpublished work of the participant. Any illegible or plagiarised entries will be disqualified.

Entries should also not have won any prizes in previous story-writing contests held by any other organisation, company, clubs or societies, etc.

COMPETITION DETAILS

Each participant may only submit one entry of either a written passage or a comic strip. Please refer to item 3 for the word limit set for each category. Conditions for the submission of the image file of the comic strip will be published on the submission website.

For school categories, schools may submit the entries on their students' behalf, or participants may submit their entries individually.

All entries must be submitted online via www.mystory.sg/storycontest before 11.59pm on 1 April 2012. Details of the upload can be found on the website.

Participants are encouraged to submit their entries early to avoid technical problems posed by last-minute heavy user traffic, e.g. server congestion, failure, etc.

Entries received after the closing date and time will not be accepted for whatever the reason.
If the closing date of the competition is extended due to unforeseen circumstances, an announcement will be made on www.mystory.sg/storycontest.

JUDGING

The Organisers will convene a panel of judges to determine the winners from the seven categories based on the following criteria:

• Use of selected artefact in story
• Structure/elements of story
• Quality of writing and use of language

The judges' decision is final and no correspondence pertaining to the judging process will be entertained.

The results will be announced online after 1 May 2012 via www.mystory.sg/storycontest. All winners will be also be notified by post.

ORGANISER'S RIGHTS

The Organisers (defined as the National Heritage Board, the National Library Board and the National Day Parade 2012 EXCO):

• Will not insure the entries it receives or be responsible for any loss or damage of the entries;
• Reserve exhibition rights and publication rights to the received entries in print, broadcast and electronic media without requiring the permission of the participant and without any fee payment. However, the Organisers will acknowledge the participants if their entries are used;
• Reserve the rights to publish shortlisted and winning entries of this competition, in part, or as a whole, online or in print;
• Have the right to disqualify any entry submitted for non-compliance of the rules and regulations and any copyright infringements;
• Will not be liable for any copyright infringement on the part of the participants; and
• Reserve the right to modify the competition prizes and its rules and regulations without prior notice.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: call 6332 3531

For submissions: submit online here

Website: http://storycontest.mystory.sg/

Source: http://www.asiawrites.org/2012/03/national-heritage-board-story-writing.html

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