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Story Writing Competition on Singapore Chinese Culture

Aug 2025

 

Rules & Regulations

 

(A) Objective

The primary objective of the Story Writing Competition on Singapore Chinese Culture is to commemorate Singapore's 60th anniversary by encouraging Singaporeans to inherit, preserve, and promote the nation's Chinese cultural heritage. A further objective is to inspire secondary students to develop an interest in and appreciation for Singapore's local heritage.

(B) Aims
  1. Preserve and promote Singapore's Chinese cultural heritage: Encourage the public to reflect on our history and local Chinese culture, and showcase the contributions of Chinese Singaporeans in our multicultural society.
  2. Foster cultural identity: Promote the cultural identity of Chinese Singaporeans, and help the younger generation understand and inherit their cultural legacy.
  3. Cultivate students' interest in reading Chinese: Inspire students' interest in learning Chinese and enhance their reading ability and Chinese language proficiency through the publication of the award-winning stories as graded readers.
  4. To promote local writing creation: Encourage enthusiasts of Chinese culture to participate in creative writing, enrich the repository of Singapore Chinese literature and cultural works, and inspire the innovation and development of our local Chinese culture.
(C) Organisers
  1. Co-organisers:
  2. (1) Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC)
    (2) Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL)
  3. Supporting organiser:
  4. Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL)
(D) Story Content and Requirements
Topics Choose a theme from "Culturepaedia" and write a story for secondary students in Singapore.
Language Chinese
Word count 1,500-2,500 words
Writing guidelines
  1. The story must be related to Singapore's Chinese Culture and suitable for secondary students in Singapore.
  2. Please indicate at the end of your story which references from "Culturepaedia" were consulted during the creation of your work.
    For example:（大众文化与媒体）李国樑《捞鱼生》
  3. In addition to "Culturepaedia", other resources can also be used.
Remarks
  1. If historical photo(s) are used, please include a caption for each photo and indicate the source.
  2. Reference lists, acknowledgements and other related content may also be included.
Submission requirements
  1. Manuscripts must be submitted in MS Word. Chinese text should use the SimSun font, and English text and numerals should be in Times New Roman, with a font size of 12 point.
  2. If the MS Word document contains photos/images, please also provide a version of the document in Portable Document Format (PDF). The original JPEG files of the photos/images must also be submitted.
  3. Please send the story for entry via email and follow the prescribed format for the subject line:
    Name (Story title)
    For example：李亚凤（新加坡华人餐饮文化）
(E) Participation Procedure
Participant
  1. The competition is open to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, aged 13 and above.
  2. Participants may choose to enter the competition either individually or as a group. Group entries are limited to a maximum of four members per team.
  3. Parental or guardian consent must be obtained for a participant under the age of 18.
Submission Dateline 31 January 2026 (Saturday)
Online Submission Fill in the online registration form, then submit the entry to story@sccl.sg.
Registrations will be processed only if all required documents have been received.
Remark To safeguard the originality and creativity of the work, participants are not allowed to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools during the whole process of their story writing (including generating content, refining writing, and/or structuring the overall composition).
(F) Judging and Prizes
  1. The judging panel comprises distinguished academics and experts. Entries will be selected through a double-blind review process.
  2. Winners will receive a trophy, certificate and cash prize as rewards. Prizes will be awarded per submission.
  3. The cash prizes for each placing are as follows:
    Ranking  Number of Winners  Cash Prize
     First Prize  One winner  $1,500
     Second Prize  One winner  $1,000
     Third Prize  One winner  $800
     Excellence Award  Multiple winners  $400
  4. The winning entries will be published by SCCL as Chinese graded readers for secondary students.
(G) Announcement of Results

The competition results will be announced on SCCL's website in April 2026. Winners will be notified by email.

(H) Enquiry
  1. Please email story@sccl.sg if you have any queries regarding the story writing competition.
  2. Please email culturepaedia@singaporeccc.org.sg if you have any queries regarding "Culturepaedia".
(I) Copyright License & Declarations
  1. While the rights of authorship will remain with the authors, all other rights included in the copyright pertaining to the story will belong to the Organisers. The Organisers reserve the rights to rewrite, publish, copy or distribute the winning entries in whole or in parts at any time and in any place, without getting consent from or paying any fee to the authors.
  2. Stories submitted must be original works. All entries must not have been published or awarded by any other organisations. Stories must not be plagiarised or translated from any sources. In case of copyright infringement, the entry will be disqualified; for a winning entry, its qualification will be cancelled, and the prizes and any cash rewards must be forfeited and returned to the Organisers. If any winning entry infringes on copyrights or other rights and such infringement is not discovered in time, the participant shall still be liable to compensate the Organisers for all losses and damages incurred after publication.
  3. Each participant must register using his/her identity information as shown on their NRIC. If any information is found to be false, incorrect, or suspected of infringement, the participant will be disqualified from the competition.
  4. Participants must give consent to the Organisers to collect, retain, and use their personal information for purposes related to the competition.
  5. Participants intending to withdraw their consent for the Organisers to collect, retain, and use their personal information should notify the Organisers via story@sccl.sg.
  6. Withdrawal of participants' consent for the Organisers to collect, retain, and use personal information shall be considered as withdrawal from the competition.
  7. The contents of the entry stories shall conform to Singapore's laws and regulations, abide by social morality and good orders, and must not contain any defamatory or offensive content. Regardless of the form of damages (whether tortious or otherwise), caused directly, indirectly or incidentally by the story content, the authors must take full responsibility and pay the Organisers for all losses and damages incurred as a result.
  8. The Organisers will not be responsible for any loss, damage, delay or misdelivery of the entries. Submissions will not be returned. Participants are advised to retain a copy of their original works.
  9. Participants under the age of 18 must obtain parental or guardian consent, without which they will be disqualified.
  10. All staff of the Organisers are not eligible to participate in this competition.
  11. If a prize is awarded to a group submission, the distribution of the prize shall be determined by mutual agreement among the team members. The Organisers shall not be held responsible for any arrangements or disputes regarding the allocation.
  12. If a winner of any prize cannot be contacted within 30 days after the release of results, the prize will be forfeited.
  13. All participants are deemed to have agreed to and shall abide by the competition rules and regulations by submitting their work. The parents or guardians of student participants who have given consent for the student participants to enter the competition are also deemed to have agreed to and shall abide by the competition rules and regulations.
  14. The Organisers reserve the right to final interpretation of the stated terms and conditions and the right to disqualify participants who violate the rules.
  15. For any updates and changes, please refer to the website.

 

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