Guidelines

Theme

The Change I Want To Make

The United Nations General Assembly adopted The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which encompasses 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that underlines a global commitment to achieve sustainable development in three dimensions—economic, social and environmental. For example, SDG 11 encourages the world to create inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities.

The theme of this competition is:
“The Change I Want To Make”

What kind of world do you envision 2030 to be like? What is one thing you would like to change to make your school, community, or the world a better and more sustainable and resilient place? Please share your ideas for making your vision a reality.

Topics can be chosen by the student. It is not necessary to include SDG 11.

Categories

Eligibility: Full-time primary school, high school, and undergraduate students enrolled in Macao schools in the 2021/2022 Academic Year. Essays may be submitted by anyone up to 25 years old (as of September 1, 2021) in one of the following age categories:

Upper Primary School

Students enrolled

in Grade 4-6

Word count: 150 - 250 words

Middle School

Students enrolled in

Form 1-3 / Grade 7 - 9

Word count: 300 - 450 words

Senior High School

Students enrolled in

Form 4-6 / Grade 10 - 12

Word count: 500 - 650 words

College

Full-time

Undergraduate students

Word count: 700 - 900 words

Note: Depending on the amount of entries, the Organizing Committee reserves the right to modify or cancel the number of categories and awards accordingly without notice.

Submission Format

Language: English 

File Format: PDF format only 

File Name: MEEC_2021_Essay[Contestant Number
   For Example: MEEC_2021_EssayU1023.pdf

Font: Times New Roman size 12

Line Spacing: All text in your document should be double-spaced

Margins: Normal margins
   Top/Bottom: 2.54cm
   Left/Right: 3.17cm

Contestants should not put their name or school or any identifying information in the essay. Essays should include your contestant number and essay title at the top of the first page. Your contestant number and essay title are not included in the word count limit. 

Please do not add diagrams or photos into your essay.

Awards

Student Awards

First Prize: Certificate, Trophy, Essay Collection (1 winner)

Second Prize: Certificate, Trophy, Essay Collection (3 winners)

Third Prize: Certificate, Trophy, Essay Collection (5 winners)

Honourable Mention: Certificate and Essay Collection (8 winners)

Winners may be invited to perform their essays in our award ceremony.

Group Awards

The following awards will only be given to one organization/school:

Empowerment Award: Awarded to the school or organization with the highest number of entries 

Best Achievement Award: Awarded to the school or organization with the highest score calculated as follows: 

    First Place – 50 points
    Second Place – 20 points each
    Third Place –  10 points each
    Honourable Mention – 2 points each

Important Dates

Competition Procedures

  1. Contestants must complete the registration form through the website or register through their teachers or group organizers through group registration before the registration deadline.

  2. Teachers and group organizers who wish to submit a collection of essays may email meec@essaymacao.com for a group registration form. 

  3. The photo collected from the registration page will be used in compiling a collection of the winning essays. Photo must be high resolution and in full-color that is at least 2 inches by 2 inches (51mm by 51mm) in size. Selfies are not appropriate. Heavily filtered, washed out, or overexposed images will not be accepted. 

  4. After registering online, a contestant number will be sent to you. Contestants should not put their name or school or any identifying information in the essay. Essays should include your contestant number and essay title at the top of the first page. 

  5. Entries must be submitted online before the submission date of November 5, 2021. Late submissions will not be accepted. 

  6. Essays must be original, unpublished, and not have been submitted to other competitions. Each entry must be done individually representing the contestant’s own research, thinking, and writing. Plagiarized entries will be rejected.

  7. Essays must be written by one person. Co-authored essays are not accepted.

  8. Winning works will be published in an essay collection at the end of the competition which will be made available online and in print media. Selected essays may also be published on the platforms of our media partners. 

  9. Copyright of the essays entered will be assigned to the organizer. By entering this competition, the organizer is granted non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to reproduce, promote, use, and display the essay in all media formats without prior consultation and notice. 

  10. Competition winners may be invited to perform their essays at the award ceremony. 

  11. Contestants under the age of 18  (as of September 1, 2021) have to submit a scanned copy of the signed parent/guardian consent form (either English or Chinese version) to the organizing committee or group organizer along with their essays on or before November 5, 2021.

  12. The organizer reserves the rights of final decision and interpretation of the terms and results of this competition. Changes to the competition will be updated on the website with no additional announcements. Should there be any inconsistency or conflict between the English and Chinese versions of the rules, the English version shall be the governing and prevailing version.

Judging and Results

Submissions will be judged on the messaging, form, style, and mechanics. The judging rubric can be found in the Downloads section of the website. The judging rubric may be changed without notice. 


All qualifying essays will be judged blind through several rounds of judging. The decision of the judging panel on the results and rankings of the contest is final.


Individual inquiries concerning contest results will not be answered.