Macao, China: Organized by the Macao Speech Professionals Association (MSPA), the Macao-wide English Essay Competition wrapped up its 2021-2022 competition with an award ceremony on March 12, 2022, at the Macao Science Center. With the support of SDSN Youth Hong Kong as the supervisor and the United Nations University Institute in Macau as the advisor for the competition, MSPA worked closely with their co-organizers including the Society of Food & Environmental Health, Macau Association for the Advancement of Diversified Development, Macao Tertiary Sector Promotion Association, and Sustainable Development Association.
The ceremony was attended by the Assistant Director of the Department of Education and Youth Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao SAR, Zhou Quan, Acting Chief of Youth Development Division of the Education and Youth Development Bureau, Tam Sio Wa, Deputy Director General of the Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Center, Kuan Chan Victoria Alexa, Head of Research of the United Nations University Institute in Macau, Dr. Serge Stinckwich, Deputy Secretary General of Associação de Educação de Macau, Loi I Weng, Deputy Director General of the Macao Catholic Schools Association, Lao Mei Leng, Founding President of MSPA, Fong Sek Un, and other representatives from youth organizations, school principals, teachers, students, and their family. Over 200 attendees came together to celebrate this event.
The ceremony featured speeches by the category winners as well as a lively discussion panel with student representatives sharing their favorite vocabulary related to sustainable development and why adopting the Agenda 2030 is important to the world.
As the first English essay competition geared towards promoting the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, students are encouraged to strengthen their English writing skills while learning about global topics. Over 1600 students from 53 local schools registered for the competition and after multiple rounds of blind evaluations, a final 68 winners were selected by a panel of professional judges who have displayed excellence at their respective fields. Premier School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School won two group awards: the Empowerment Award and Best Achievement Award.
Chair of the Macao-wide English Essay Competition, Sandy Leong noted that the theme, “The Change I Want to Make”, was designed to initiate conversations in the community about our own power to create a better future. Through learning about the Global Goals, we can all appreciate the importance of sustainable development and bring positive changes to the world.
The winning essays are compiled into an essay collection, the first of its kind published in Macao, aiming to allow more stakeholders in the community to know about our younger generation’s thoughts on the crucial issues and build a sustainable community together.
Visit https://essaymacao.com for a comprehensive list of winners and to find out more about the essay collection.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Lyfee Lai
Email: meec@essaymacao.com
