The 6th City Literary Awards hosted by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is now open for entries. The aim of the competition is to encourage youngsters to participate in creative writing and promote the literary culture of Hong Kong and Macau.

The theme is “Hong Kong Cityscape embraced in Mountains and Seas” and there are four categories: prose, short stories, poetry and art and cultural criticism. All local and Macau residents aged between 15 and 24 are welcome to take part.

Professor Cheng Pei-kai, Director of the Chinese Civilisation Centre, said that the relationship between the mountain and the sea is very close in Hong Kong. “We chose this theme because people’s lifestyles in Hong Kong mingle very closely with the city, the mountains and the sea,” Professor Cheng said.

“Everyone has a place in their hearts for the purification of the soul and the mind. Through this competition, I wish to encourage youngsters to use words and creative writing to express their feelings about the city and how a person can relate to it,” Professor Cheng added.　

The winners will be selected by prominent writers, including Professor Huang Ziping, Ms Zhang Yihe and Professor Joseph Lau Shiu-ming (prose); Professor Yvonne Chang Sung-sheng, Mr Chang Ta-chuan and Mr Yan Lianke (short stories); Professor Cheng Chou-yu, Professor Jiau-tung and Mr Yip Fai (poetry); and Mr Perry Lam, Mr Xu Zhi Yuan and Mr Yang Zhao (art & cultural criticisms).

There are four top prizes and merit awards for each category. The champion, first runner-up and second runner-up in each category will receive $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000, respectively. The deadline for submissions is 28 January 2011 and the results will be announced in May 2011. All winning entries will be published in a collection by CityU in 2012.

The City Literary Awards are hosted by CityU’s Cultural and Sports Committee, the Chinese Civilisation Centre and the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Macao Foundation. It is sponsored by Hang Seng Bank.

The competition is part of the City Literary Festival in which well-known local and overseas writers share their thoughts and writing experience at a number of seminars in Hong Kong and Macau between 15 April and 19 April 2011.

Details of the 6th City Literary Awards are at http://www.ncm2.xyz/ctspc/literature. For further information, please call 3442 8029.