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Shorts A Short Story Writing Competition 2012 Regulations and ...

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<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong><br />

A <strong>Short</strong> <strong>Story</strong> <strong>Writing</strong> <strong>Competition</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />

<strong>Regulations</strong> <strong>and</strong> Conditions<br />

1. Organiser<br />

The ‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ competition is organised by the Native-speaking English Teacher (NET) Section,<br />

Curriculum Development Institute (CDI), Education Bureau (EDB).<br />

2. Aims of the <strong>Competition</strong><br />

The aims of the ‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ competition are to:<br />

give students an opportunity to learn narrative writing techniques <strong>and</strong> use English in a<br />

creative way to express feelings <strong>and</strong> imaginative ideas;<br />

give students an opportunity to collaborate with peers to plan, draft <strong>and</strong> produce a<br />

short story in written <strong>and</strong> spoken forms; <strong>and</strong><br />

support the learning <strong>and</strong> teaching of the Elective Module, Learning English through<br />

<strong>Short</strong> Stories, in the Three-year Senior Secondary English Language Curriculum.<br />

3. Description of the Event<br />

‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ is a short story writing competition open to S3-S7 students from secondary schools<br />

in Hong Kong offering the Three-year Senior Secondary English Language Curriculum. The<br />

competition requires students to work in groups to plan, draft, revise, edit, write <strong>and</strong> record<br />

an original short story based on a selection of images.<br />

There are two categories in the competition: <strong>Short</strong> <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong> <strong>and</strong> Long <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>. Entries for the<br />

<strong>Short</strong> <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong> category must be 300-600 words in length. Long <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong> entries must be<br />

600-1200 words.<br />

The NET Section competitions adopt a ‘train the trainer’ model. In order to be eligible for the<br />

‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ competition, schools must send at least one teacher to a full-day professional<br />

development workshop called NETworking Series: <strong>Writing</strong> <strong>and</strong> Presenting <strong>Short</strong> Stories.<br />

In this workshop, teachers will investigate the major features of short stories, experience the<br />

collaborative writing process first-h<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> experiment with narrative writing techniques.<br />

They will engage in peer response <strong>and</strong> peer editing <strong>and</strong> explore strategies for applying the<br />

collaborative writing process modeled in the workshop to prepare students for the<br />

competition. They will also discuss strategies for teaching students to read their short stories<br />

aloud, focusing on voice projection, accuracy <strong>and</strong> expression.


After the workshop, teachers will support their students by teaching them about narrative<br />

writing techniques <strong>and</strong> by providing them with guidelines for the collaborative writing<br />

process that they will go through to complete a short story for the competition.<br />

4. Schedule of Events<br />

Schedule Event Related Documents<br />

13 February <strong>2012</strong><br />

9:30am – 5:00pm<br />

OR<br />

15 February <strong>2012</strong><br />

9:30am – 5:00pm<br />

25 May, <strong>2012</strong><br />

5:00 pm<br />

NETworking Series: <strong>Writing</strong><br />

<strong>and</strong> Presenting <strong>Short</strong> Stories<br />

professional development<br />

workshop<br />

EDB Training Calendar System<br />

(TCS)<br />

Deadline for submissions Entry forms <strong>and</strong> pledges given out<br />

at the NETworking Series: <strong>Writing</strong><br />

<strong>and</strong> Presenting <strong>Short</strong> Stories<br />

professional development workshop<br />

June/July <strong>2012</strong> Awards Ceremony Invitation letters <strong>and</strong> reply forms<br />

5. Conditions of Entry<br />

Schools must send at least one teacher to the NETworking Series: <strong>Writing</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />

Presenting <strong>Short</strong> Stories professional development workshop on 13 February or 15<br />

February in order to be eligible to participate in the ‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ competition.<br />

Schools can submit a maximum of five entries.<br />

Entries must be original with short stories created wholly by a team of three to four<br />

students (S3 – S7). Each team may consist of students who are in the same year level<br />

or in different year levels.<br />

Use of short story elements <strong>and</strong> narrative writing techniques must be evident in the<br />

text of the short story.<br />

Entries should be typed in Word format using 12pt Times New Roman font <strong>and</strong><br />

printed double-sided on A4 paper. Pages should be numbered <strong>and</strong> set with 1 inch<br />

margins on all sides. Line spacing should be set at ‘double’ (2.0). To ensure<br />

anonymity in the adjudication process, the name of the school <strong>and</strong> the names of<br />

students should not appear in the header, the footer or anywhere in the pages of the<br />

short story. A word count should be included on the last page.<br />

The short story should be recorded in MP3 format <strong>and</strong> burned on to a CD together<br />

with the Word document of the short story. Student names <strong>and</strong> the school name<br />

should be written on the CD. Original sound effects <strong>and</strong> music are permitted.*<br />

The entry form <strong>and</strong> pledge provided at the NETworking Series: <strong>Writing</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />

Presenting <strong>Short</strong> Stories professional development workshop must be completed by<br />

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clearly indicating personal particulars, selection of category (<strong>Short</strong> <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong> or Long<br />

<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>), selection of images, students’ roles in the project <strong>and</strong> a brief synopsis of the<br />

story.<br />

* Please note: Care must be taken not to infringe copyright by including any protected<br />

material in the entry, as stories <strong>and</strong> recordings will remain the property of the EDB <strong>and</strong> may<br />

be used in future resources.<br />

6. Adjudication<br />

Judging panels may include representatives from the NET Section <strong>and</strong> other Sections of the<br />

EDB, professional writing instructors, published authors <strong>and</strong> English teachers. Entries will be<br />

coded to ensure transparent <strong>and</strong> unbiased adjudication. Entries will be assessed on their<br />

Content, Use of Written Language <strong>and</strong> Oral Delivery.<br />

The assessment criteria will include, but will not be limited to:<br />

Content (40%)<br />

The content is original <strong>and</strong> creative.<br />

The content is well-structured <strong>and</strong> logically organised.<br />

There is good development of plot, setting, character <strong>and</strong> dialogue.<br />

Use of Written Language (40%)<br />

There is a range of vocabulary.<br />

The language is grammatically correct.<br />

The language adheres to the conventions of spelling <strong>and</strong> punctuation.<br />

Oral Delivery (20%)<br />

The delivery is fluent.<br />

The delivery is accurate.<br />

The delivery is intelligible.<br />

The delivery is engaging <strong>and</strong> dramatic.<br />

Note: The decision of the judging panel will be considered final. No correspondence will be<br />

entered into after the results are announced.<br />

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7. Prizes <strong>and</strong> Awards<br />

Prize/Award <strong>Short</strong> <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong> Long <strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong><br />

1 st Prize Trophy <strong>and</strong> $1500 book coupon Trophy <strong>and</strong> $1500 book coupon<br />

2 nd Prize Trophy <strong>and</strong> $1000 book coupon Trophy <strong>and</strong> $1000 book coupon<br />

3 rd Prize Trophy <strong>and</strong> $500 book coupon Trophy <strong>and</strong> $500 book coupon<br />

4 th – 10 th Awards<br />

Certificates of Merit Certificates of Merit<br />

An awards ceremony will be held in late June or early July of <strong>2012</strong>. Selected prize winners<br />

may be invited to present their short stories during the ceremony.<br />

8. Submission of Entries<br />

The deadline for submission of entries is 5:00 pm on Friday, 25 May <strong>2012</strong>.<br />

To be eligible for a prize, entries must include:<br />

a) the completed entry form <strong>and</strong> pledge;<br />

b) the printed short story; <strong>and</strong><br />

c) a CD containing the Word document of the short story <strong>and</strong> a recording of<br />

it in MP3 format.<br />

Please submit entries by post or in person to:<br />

‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ <strong>Competition</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />

Regional NET Coordinating Team<br />

Native-speaking English Teacher Section,<br />

Room 1120, 11/F Tsuen Wan Multi-storey Carpark Building,<br />

174 – 208 Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan, NT<br />

9. Copyright<br />

Copyright remains with the author(s) though each entrant gives permission to the EDB to use<br />

whole or part of the submitted short stories <strong>and</strong> CD recordings in printed <strong>and</strong> electronic forms<br />

as well as on the Internet in future promotional materials <strong>and</strong>/or as curriculum resources.<br />

10. Enquiries<br />

All information about ‘<strong><strong>Short</strong>s</strong>’ is available on the EDB website at:<br />

http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?nodeID=262&langno=1<br />

For further enquiries, please contact Mr Phillip Weber at 3549 8360 or weber@edb.gov.hk.<br />

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