Young Thai essayists urged to put pen to paper
Irish Ambassador to Thailand Eugene Hutchinson, centre, meets some of the young essayists taking part in the 3rd Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand.
|
|
|
The Third Annual Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand, designed to promote creative English-language essay writing among Thai high school students, begins today in all four regions of the country.
Essays with the theme "A Tale of Thai Grace and Compassion" will be accepted from now until December 15 from Thai students between the ages of 14 and 18. Regional winners will receive cash prizes and the national winner will travel to Ireland to attend the Senior Dublin Literary Awards ceremony and witness the awarding of the world's richest literary prizes. The contest is organised by The Nation, Nation Junior, Phuket Gazette and CityLife. It is sponsored by the international productivity consultant IMPAC, the Embassy of Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Property Care Services Company. This year's judges for Bangkok and the national awards are Education Ministry permanent secretary Charuaypon Toranin, TK Park director and former deputy education minister Sirikorn Maneerin, the Irish Ambassador to Thailand, Eugene Hutchinson, the former president of Thailand Tesol, the association of teachers of English, Assoc Professor Suchada Nimmannit, SeaWrite judge and international relations lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, Assoc Professor Prathoomporn Vajrasthira, the head of the Children's Literature Programme at Srinakharinwirot University's Faculty of Humanities, Ajarn Atchara Pradit, the author of the English-language novel Chalida, Salisa Pinkayan, and the president of The Nation, Pana Janviroj. Students whose age is between 14 and 18 on December 15, 2006, are eligible to enter the contest. The length of their essays should be between 800 and 1,200 words. Regional winners will be announced in January and the national winner will be announced at a gala dinner in February. The winning essay in each region will earn Bt10,000, as well as two merit awards of Bt5,000 each. The national winner will be chosen from the regional winners. For more details, please visit http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/literaryawards/ Irish Ambassador to Thailand Eugene Hutchinson said he wanted to encourage Thai students to gather more writing and communication skills in English. "I am enthusiastic about the motive for using English as we [the Irish] are also English speakers, and this competition offers a unique opportunity to increase awareness of English use among young people," he said. The ambassador said Irish education was highly valued and he would like to see more young Thai people studying in Ireland.
|
