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Literary works not only express the writer's emotions, they also reflect a place's life and culture. Writers express their thoughts and feelings and readers interpret the sadness, grief or happiness presented by the written word. Literary works can be presented by voice, video images or body language. Three pre-festival competitions will be held in connection with the 10th Hong Kong Literature Festival to encourage members of the public to participate in different forms of literary works.
The 10th Hong Kong Literature Festival, organised by the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, is scheduled to be held in June and July. The three pre-festival competitions, namely the "When I Remember" Writing Competition, the "Literature and Film" Short Video Competition and the Literary Performance Competition, are now inviting entries. The deadlines for applications for the writing and short video competitions are March 20 and 27 respectively, while the Literary Performance Competition deadline is February 20.
Memories serve as the inspiration for writing, while literary works stay in our memories for eternity. Using not more than 2 000 words in Chinese, the "When I Remember" Writing Competition requires participants to write to an old friend about something in the past to match with the theme of this year's Literature Festival, "Feeling Nostalgic". Writing can be based on different topics and participants can submit two photos at most with their articles.
The writing competition is divided into a secondary school student category and an open category. In the secondary school student category, book coupons valued at $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 will be awarded to the champion, the first runner-up and the second runner-up respectively, and $500 book coupons will be awarded to three merit award winners. Cash rewards valued at $4,000, $3,000 and $2,000 will be awarded to the champion, the first runner-up and the second runner-up respectively in the open category. Three merit award winners will be awarded $800 cash rewards. The result will be announced in June.
Literary works are not only limited to writing, they can also be communicated using video images. The "Literature and Film" Short Video Competition aims to encourage participants to act as a director, screenwriter or actor, and to use videos to explore literary works with new dimensions of interpretation.
The competition is divided into a secondary school student category and an open category. Participants are invited to submit short video proposals based on a literary work by any local author, in 500 to 800 words in Chinese together with a short video of three to eight minutes' duration. They should express their opinion on the selected local literary work and provide a brief summary of the video in each proposal. The result will be announced in June.
In the secondary school student category, book coupons valued at $4,000, $3,000 and $2,000 will be awarded to the champion, the first runner-up and the second runner-up respectively, and $1,000 book coupons will be awarded to three merit award winners. Cash rewards valued at $6,000, $4,000 and $3,000 will be awarded to the champion, the first runner-up and the second runner-up respectively in the open category. Three merit award winners will be awarded $1,500 cash rewards.
In order to allow participants to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of literary works, and to produce a short video of high quality, a "Literature and Film" Short Video Competition sharing session will be held on February 7 (Friday) from 7pm to 8.30pm in Activity Room 1 of Hong Kong Central Library. Winners from the last competition will share their experiences and filming skills. Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Literary Performance Competition for primary school students, which has been well received by local schools in past years, will be held from late March to early April. It aims to enhance the recognition and understanding of local literature through the interpretation of different literary works. The competition will be conducted in Chinese.
Entries can be in the format of a performance by one or two people, and the time limit is five minutes. Book coupons valued at $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 will be awarded to the champion, the first runner-up and the second runner-up respectively, and $500 book coupons will be awarded to three merit award winners.
All winners will also be awarded with certificates and the representing schools will be awarded with trophies.
Entry forms in Chinese for the above events are now available at all public libraries or on the HKPL website at www.hkpl.gov.hk/10hklf. A series of events related to the 10th Hong Kong Literature Festival will be announced in due course.
For enquiries, please call 2928 4551 or 2921 2649.
Ends/Thursday, January 23, 2014
Issued at HKT 12:00
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