With the remarkable success of the WELNET Storytelling Competition 2007-2008 held last year, the WELNET Team continued to organize WELNET Storytelling Competition 2008-2009 this year and further expanded the valuable opportunities from Primary 5 students to Primary 6 students. This made the number of participants of this year double.

The Competition aimed to promote creative writing in schools and encourage students to speak English and demonstrate their creativity in story writing. Through the competition, students can build up their confidence and have the opportunities to appreciate other students’ masterpieces in order to improve their writing standard. The competition consisted of two rounds. In the first round, 22 schools and over 1,000 Primary 5 and 6 students participated in the online writing competition and 170 students were awarded. In the second round, 40 out of the 170 first round winners were selected to participate in the on-stage presentation held on 21 February 2009  at Yaumati Catholic Primary School (Hoi Wang Road).

The Competition & Award Presentation received overwhelming support from principals and teachers. We felt honourable to have Principal Ho from Sai Kung Sung Tsun Catholic School (Primary Section), Dr David Carless, Associate Professor of The University of Hong Kong, Mr Archie McGlynn, Director of Hong Kong School Self Evaluation Network from Quality Assurance Division of EDB, and Professor Horace Ip from City University of Hong Kong as our adjudicators. On the day of the Competition, all contestants strove their best to present their stories. Thanks to the expertise of the judges, we finally awarded five winners of each level. Here are the highlights of the day: