In an effort to promote local Chinese literary writing and to cultivate children's interest of learning Chinese, Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL) and the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL) co-organised the "Creativity, No Boundaries!" National Children's Story Writing Competition. Focusing on "creativity", participants are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity to write original stories which are interesting and inspiring. The competition consists of two sections: the on-the-spot competition for students and email submission for the public.

        The on-the-spot competition for primary students was held on 17 September 2016 at Queenstown Primary School, while the one for secondary school and pre-university students took place on 24 September 2016 at Guangyang Secondary School. Approximately 380 students hailing from over 100 schools participated in the competition.

        The open category for Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 18 years old and above is now open for email submission. Parents can also take part in the competition with their children. Interested participants should submit the manuscript to story@sccl.sg by 31 December 2016.

        The results of the competitions will be announced in February 2017. Winning entries will be published as a series of picture books suitable for local primary students and each Singapore primary school will receive complimentary sets of the graded readers so as to encourage the reading of Chinese books among children.

 

Participants of the primary group creating their stories

 

Group photo of SCCL staff and Queenstown Primary School's personnel

 

Participants of the secondary school and pre-university groups

 

Dr Jocelyn Lim Bee Kim, Deputy Director, Mother Tongue Languages Branch, Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Ministry of Education (sixth from left, back row), SCCL staff and Guangyang Secondary School's personnel

 

From left: Dr Chin Chee Kuen (Executive Director, SCCL), Mr Kwok Chin Poh Benjamin (Principal, Guangyang Secondary School), Mr Chong Leong Chin (Deputy Executive Director, SCCL), Mr Tan Kiak Seng (Consultant, SCCL), Mr Loy Lee Loke (Operations Manager, Guangyang Secondary School)