HeritageFest Singapore

Rules & Regulations

Who May Participate

1. This contest is open to all Upper Primary and Lower Secondary students enrolled in a primary or secondary school in Singapore, be it a local or foreign school.
2. There are two competition categories:
   1. Upper Primary category – for Primary 4 to Primary 6 students (or their equivalent).
   2. Lower Secondary category – for Secondary 1 to Secondary 2 students (or their equivalent).

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How to Participate

3. Participants are required to write a short story based on the images of artefacts provided by the National Heritage Board (NHB). The word limit for each competition category is as follows:
   1. Upper Primary category: between 200 to 450 words.
   2. Lower Secondary category: between 350 to 600 words.
4. Participants can visit www.heritagefest.sg for the list and images of the selected artefacts from the NHB museums' collections, together with a short write-up of the artefact and maps indicating their locations in the various museums. This is to facilitate locating the artefact in the museum galleries if the participant wishes to see the actual artefact. A visit to the museum to see the actual artefact is strongly recommended although it is not compulsory.
5. Participants have to use at least one artefact as the inspiration for their short story. Although the story may be fictional, the origins and the original use of the artefacts can be used as the basis for the participant's story. For example, if the artefact was made during the Tang period of Chinese history and was used as a burial item, then this fact can be used as the basis to weave a story around the potter who created it, his family, etc., or even about the royal family member buried with that item. Alternatively, the participant could also use the artefact or artefacts to write a story based on past or current times.
6. There is no limit to the number of artefacts that may be used in the story. Participants may choose to use the artefacts from one museum or artefacts from different museums.
7. Participants are allowed to reproduce the photographs of the selected artefacts for illustration purposes in their stories. However, all visuals have to be properly acknowledged and credited based on the online write-ups provided by NHB.
8. Entries must be the sole, original and unpublished work of the participant. Any illegible or plagiarised entries will be disqualified.
9. Entries should also not have won any prizes in previous story-writing contests held by any other organisation, company, clubs or societies, etc.

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Competition Details

10. Each school may field as many participants as they wish, but each participant may only submit one entry. Please refer to S/N 3 for the word limit set for each category.
11. Schools may submit the entries on their students' behalf, or participants may submit their entries individually.
12. All entries must be submitted online via www.heritagefest.sg before 11.59pm on Thursday, 28 May 2009. Details of the upload can be found on the website.
13. Participants are encouraged to submit their entries early to avoid technical problems posed by last-minute heavy user traffic, e.g. server congestion, failure, etc.
14. Entries received after the closing date and time will not be accepted for whatever the reason.
15. If the closing date of the competition is extended due to unforeseen circumstances, an announcement will be made on www.heritagefest.sg.

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Judging

16. The Organisers will convene a panel of judges to determine the winners from the Upper Primary and Lower Secondary categories based on the following criteria:
    • Content
    • Creativity (including creative use of artefact(s))
    • Originality
    • Use of language
17. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence pertaining to the judging process will be entertained.
18. You may submit multiple entries, but the judges willl only accept the final submission as participant's entry into the competition.
19. The results will be announced online on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 via www.heritagefest.sg. All winners will be also be notified by post.

View NHB and MOE's Critera Explanation  Format: PDF | Size: 28KB

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Publicity

19. All participants and participating schools may need to accept media interviews for publicity purposes should the need occur. The Organisers will inform the participants and their schools should such a need arise.

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Organisers' Rights

20. The Organisers (defined as the National Heritage Board and the Ministry of Education):
    • Will not insure the entries it receives or be responsible for any loss or damage of the entries;
    • Reserve exhibition rights and publication rights to the received entries in print, broadcast and electronic media without requiring the permission of the participant and without any fee payment. However, the Organisers will acknowledge the participants if their entries are used;
    • Reserve the rights to publish shortlisted and winning entries of this competition online or in print;
    • Have the right to disqualify any entry submitted for non-compliance of the rules and regulations and any copyright infringements;
    • Will not be liable for any copyright infringement on the part of the participants; and
    • Reserve the right to modify the competition prizes and its rules and regulations without prior notice.

For enquiries, please call the festival hotline at +65 6736 0503.