City University of Hong Kong (CityU) wishes to foster the literary culture of Hong Kong and Macau and promote Chinese literary writing. To this end, the University is once again hosting the City Literary Awards, a writing competition now open for entries.

To encourage more young people to explore their writing talent, CityU has lifted the entry requirement this year to include all local and Macau residents aged between 15 and 24.

The theme is “City Changes”, an appropriate title since Hong Kong and Macau are fast growing cities and residents feel strongly about the changes taking place around them, according to Dr Ma Ka-fai, Assistant Director of the Chinese Civilisation Centre, one of the organizers of the Awards. The competition will allow writers to set down their feelings towards these changes.

Prominent writers including Ms Zhang Yihe and Mr Dong Qiao (prose); Mr A Cheng and Mr Chang Ta-chuan (short stories); and Mr Chen Yizhi, Mr Yip Fai and Professor Cheng Chou-yu (poetry) will choose the winning entries.

Dr Ma said the Awards were a great chance for the many gifted young writers in Hong Kong and Macau to enhance their literary writing skills by interacting with renowned writers and other participants.

There are three top prizes and merit awards for each category. The champion, first runner-up and second runner-up of each category will receive $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000, respectively. The deadline for submission is 31 January and the results will be announced in April. All winning entries will be published in the second issue of City Literature in the middle of the year.

The competition is 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, Ming Pao Monthly, Ming Pao Publications and Radio Television Hong Kong (Putonghua Channel). It is sponsored by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation and the Macao Foundation.

The competition is one of the events of the City Literary Festival, which this year is themed “Hong Kong and Macau?Youth and Literature”. Local and well-known overseas writers will share their thoughts about writing at a number of seminars in Hong Kong and Macau between 30 March and 1 April.

When the Awards were first hosted last year, the response was overwhelming. Post-secondary students in Hong Kong and Macau submitted 190 entries, and of the 20 prizes on offer, CityU students won nine. The winning entries were published in the first issue of City Literature last July. An e-version is available at: http://www.ncm2.xyz/lib/digital/citylit/City_Literature-2006.htm.

The details of this year’s Awards are at: http://www.ncm2.xyz/ia-ctspc/City_Literary_06_07/index07_1.htm. For details, please call 2788 7191.