In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s nationhood, The Opinion Collaborative Ltd is organising an essay contest for Singaporeans to express their hopes and aspirations for the future of their nation.
Themed “My Singapore, My Future”, the contest will focus on getting everyday Singaporeans to embrace a positive outlook for their country and tell us what they hope to see for Singapore 10, 20 even 50 years down the road.
Participants can write about any subject they are passionate about, which may include economic, social, cultural, political and national identity issues.
What kind of economy should Singapore be embracing? Is our meritocratic approach the best way forward? What can we do to preserve our arts, culture and natural environment? What reforms do we need to our political system to ensure that we have the best talents in leadership? What do we need to do to maintain the Singapore identity, or is it even important at all? How should we represent ourselves to the rest of the world?
We would like to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we can make Singapore better and prepare ourselves for the future.
Judging of essays
The judges for the contest are all accomplished authors who have written on subjects in line with our theme. They are:
- Alfian Sa’at
- Loke Hoe Yeong
- Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh
- Tan Wah Piow
- Thum Ping Tjin
All essays will be evaluated using the following criteria:
- Fit to theme
- Essay is essentially talking about “My Singapore, My Future”.
- Adherence to topic context
- Essay adequately discusses a Singapore issue (political, social, cultural, economic, civil society, international relations, etc).
- Essay accurately identifies problems of concern.
- Essay proposes areas of improvement for the problem identified.
- Forward-looking and positivity
- Essay presents a positive vision that is optimistic, full of can-do.
- Essay presents a future Singapore that is compellingly executable.
- Essay presents exciting possibilities.
- Readability
- Writing style of essay is simple, easy to read.
- Essay flows easily as a narrative, engages the reader.
Submission, prizes and publishing
All entries should be sent to [email protected]. Essays should be between 500 to 750 words and written in English. The top entries will be published on www.theonlinecitizen.com after the close of the contest. All entries are to reach us by 26 June 2015, 11:59pm Singapore time.
There will be three winners for the contest:
- First prize – S$500 cash voucher, and $10 voucher for store.theonlinecitizen.com
- Second prize – S$300 cash voucher, and $10 voucher for store.theonlinecitizen.com
- Third prize – S$200 cash voucher, and $10 voucher for store.theonlinecitizen.com
TOC Ltd and TOC reserves the right to publish the contents of all essays for our publicity purposes. The judges’ decision will be final, and their decision will be finalised by the week of 6 July 2015. Please read our detailed Terms and Conditions.
Our Supporter:
The Monsoons Book Club is a non-profit-making association of concerned individuals interested in books and ideas relevant to the social, political and economic progress in the South East Asian. It aims to create a platform for people from all walks of life, including writers, intellectuals, artists, researchers and politicians to inform, share their thoughts, challenge conventional views; and to disseminate reports and recordings of such events to a wider audience through written and audio visual media. Monsoons Book Club is the trading name of Monsoons Book Club Limited (registered in Cardiff, UK).
About The Opinion Collaborative Ltd
The Opinion Collaborative Ltd (TOC Ltd) is a social enterprise registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority under the Companies Act. TOC Ltd is interested in the development of the online media sphere in Singapore, with the view of promoting an open and diverse media environment that values the constructive collaboration of ideas and views. It aims to do so by supporting websites that seek to enlighten readers and provide diversity of opinion, so as to ignite passion and responsibility in nation-building.
