2nd year of Essay Writing on Energy launched
Mar 01, 2011
As part of the celebration of the National Energy Consciousness Month spearheaded by the Department of Energy (DOE), the industry’s stakeholders simultaneously launched the second year of the Energy Essay Writing Contest which targets college or university students as participants.
The competition runs from December 2010 to April 30, 2011 and the awarding rites will be held in May this year. This year’s theme of the Essay Writing Contest is: “Energy Access for More: How Can the Youth Be Involved in Solving the Country’s Energy Challenge?”
Contestants may submit entries anchored on the main theme; as well as on the four special categories namely: Clean Energy Solutions, Best Energy Market Solutions (which deals with demand-side management initiatives or how efficient energy resources can be used); Enhancing Electricity Market Competitiveness; and Green Workplace.
The grand winner will receive P50,000 cash award plus trophy from major corporate partner Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation; while special category winners will receive P35,000 cash prize each plus trophy from the following corporate and institutional partners: Energy Regulatory Commission for Enhancing Electricity Market Competitiveness; Aboitiz Power Corporation for Clean Energy Solutions; San Miguel Corporation for Best Energy Market Solutions; and Calenergy International for Green Workplace. The other partners supporting this endeavour are Energy Council of the Philippines, Quezon Power Philippines, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Manila Electric Company and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, among others.
The project is an inter-university competition aimed at promoting the young Filipino’s role in attaining sustainable energy independence while maintaining a sound ecosystem. Qualified to join the contest are 16-30 year old students who are enrolled in undergraduate and post-graduate degrees during the academic year 2010-2011. For the special categories, submissions from Filipino students who are studying in universities/colleges abroad are also welcome.
Length of entries must be 1,000 to 1,500 words and deadline of submission is April 30, 2010 which may be done via post or online Inquiries on the contest may be channeled through: energyyouthleaders@yahoo.com or 0927-9862168.
The contest which is now running on its second year seeks for views on the new generation’s contribution to having a ‘clean’, efficient as well as sustainable source of energy – for both the oil and electricity sectors. The contest will also look for the youth’s views on the best types of eco-friendly power generation and energy conservation policies and measures to support development.
During the launching at the Department of Energy, the competition’s Grand Award Partner Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation Chairman Edgar Chua remarked that his company “recognises that to enable the journey towards the new energy future, there is a need for collective action, from peoples and governments across the world. To be effective in the call for change, education and communication play a vital role, as it puts forward energy dialogues and influences policy debates on measures that need to be adopted in order to effectively manage energy issues such as climate change.”
He then further noted that it is the aim of the competition’s second year to gather even more participation, stressing that “there is much the youth can learn from this activity, and there is also much we can learn from them.”
The first year of the competition gathered about 40 entries nationwide and from overseas Filipino students which officially logged the participation of 17 colleges and universities.