I♥SG: Nation-Wide Primary School Website and Video Competitions

The flash animation is slick, the video editing polished and the graphic design sophisticated.  But these websites and videos weren’t produced by a professional company trying to sell its wares—they were done by primary school students who wanted to show their affection for Singapore.

Teams of primary school students were tasked to create websites and videos based on the theme “I♥SG” for two nation-wide competitions organised by Victoria School, and supported by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Over 200 teams rose to the challenge for the Victoria School National Education Web Design Competition (NEWDC) and National Education Video Competition (NEVC), lovingly crafting websites and videos in homage to what they love most about their country. 

The top three websites and videos have been chosen, and the winners will be announced on Prize-Giving Day at Victoria School on 21 July 2007. The prizes will be presented by Guest-of-Honour, Minister of State for Education, RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew.

The teams sent in websites and videos describing in detail the many things that they love about Singapore. One team recalls the story of a Singapore prisoner-of-war during the Japanese Occupation, another touched on the delights of their school compound and their neighbourhood, and a group of young soccer enthusiasts crafted a touching tribute to the National Stadium.

Mrs Kiran Jacqueline Rafeek, 27, teacher-in-charge of the Poi Ching School team, a finalist in the video competition, thinks that preparing for the competition was a good lesson for the students. The Poi Ching team’s video paid tribute to Singapore’s war heroes, with a re-enactment of how one man made sacrifices for his country.

“Everything became more real for the students, and in the process they felt more for the characters and got into the history. I think it’s a great way to teach National Education, rather than with books.”

The website design competition has been held annually since 2000, while the video competition made its debut this year. Participation in the annual website design competition has increased vastly since the competition first started, with 122 teams from 82 schools now as compared with the 20 teams from as many schools in the beginning. Both competitions are supported by the National Resilience Division of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) this year.

Dr K U Menon, Director of the National Resilience Division at MICA, couldn’t be more pleased with the participation this year. 

“We’re delighted that so many students have come forward to express their feelings for Singapore. Their websites and videos are genuine and heartfelt, and it’s great to see the sheer talent on display by our young students.”

The top ten websites and videos can be viewed at http://itclub.vs.moe.edu.sg/competition/newdc/entries & http://itclub.vs.moe.edu.sg/competition/nevc/entries respectively.

They can also be viewed by clicking on the “I♥SG” feature at Earth@sg (http://www.earthsg.com), where the winning websites and videos have been incorporated on a 2D or 3D virtual map of Singapore. http://www.earthsg.com is a pilot project under the digitalCommunity@SG initiative by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). digitalCommunity@SG uses Web 2.0 and related technologies to enable innovative services through active community participation from the government, enterprises and people.

I♥SG Competition For All

In conjunction with National Day celebrations, MICA invites all Singaporeans to share with us their own memories of places, people and other things they love about Singapore at Earth@sg (http://www.earthsg.com). Simply click on the “I♥SG” feature on the website to submit a picture together with a short write-up of 50 words describing what you love about Singapore. The best ten entries will win prizes of $100 each!

For media enquiries, please contact:

Mr Nasrul Rizal Yahya

DID: 6837 9855

Mobile: 9665 6146

Email: nasrul_rizal_yahya@mica.gov.sg

or

Ms Joanna Kang

DID: 6837 9846

Mobile: 9733 2396

Email: Joanna_kang@mica.gov.sg

NATIONAL RESILIENCE DIVISION

MINISTRY OF INFORMATION, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

20 JULY 2007