POEM WRITING COMPETITION A platform for self-expression01

        The  Poem Writing Competition has entered its second year. The main objectives of this competition are to inculcate a love of poem writing among students, to promote creativity, resourcefulness and self-expression, and to promote universal values in a fun and creative way, through the medium of poetry writing.

        The competition is open to all students from Junior One to Senior Three. The participants can write in any poetic style and on any subject. Despite the restrictions of home-based learning, we received a total of 206 entries this year. The response was so overwhelming that the English Language Centre decided to increase the number of prizes as a form of encouragement and appreciation.This is also a sign that more and more students have started to take poem writing as a way to express their ideas and emotions.

        All pieces of work received were outstanding. Six English teachers were invited to shortlist the six best poems from each level and they had a hard time accomplishing the task in the first round. As for the second round, we were honoured to have two prominent figures, Professor Dr. Malachi Edwin Vethamani and Associate Professor Dr. Too Wei Keong to be the judges for placing the winners. Prof. Edwin is a prominent author in Malaysia and he has also conducted poem and short story workshops for Hin Hua teachers and students, assisted by Dr. Too.

       According to Dr. Malachi and Dr. Too,  the finalists of each level have demonstrated their strengths clearly, but at the same time, they can improve further by avoiding certain common mistakes. For example, Junior One finalists have a sense of structure and attempted to organise the poems into appropriate stanzas, though they need to avoid the overuse of expressions;  Junior Two’s  shortlisted poems show contemporary awareness of issues and a good use of imagery, with a need to be more aware of language slips; Junior Three finalists were commended for making attempts at originality and use of images, however, excessive line rhymes can affect the quality of poems. As for senior levels, Senior One poems are simple yet impactful in conveying emotions and images without showing off vocabulary; Senior Two finalists are able to present a dramatic situation (story) with interesting turns; Senior Three finalists used plenty of images, but are encouraged to learn to present a more coherent idea, thought, and emotion in their poems.

        Out of the 36 poems, the two distinguished judges were especially impressed with the poems entitled ‘Journey’ and ‘Ready The Rockets', which were written by Wong Zi Yi (S 2 Adelaide) and Lim Jia Quan, Philip (J2 Canberra) respectively. Moreover, Philip Lim, with his ‘Ready The Rockers’, has been chosen as the overall winner of this poem writing competition (Junior and Senior levels) for his remarkable poem which was commented as simple yet powerful in expressing emotions and images.  

        We thank all the participants for their active participation and hard work, and congratulate all the winners on their great achievements. Their winning pieces can be read at the ELC Google Sites:

https://sites.google.com/view/hhhselc/achievements/2021-internal-competition?authuser=0