The YM Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen bin Tengku Ismail Essay Writing Competition 2017 Awards Ceremony was held recently on Saturday 11 November 2017 at the Royal Selangor Golf Club. Fifty guests comprising of the winners, participants, parents, friends and representatives from UNMC and UNAM were there to celebrate this joyous occasion.
The essay competition is a collaboration between the School of Politics, History and International Relations (PHIR) of the University of Nottingham Malaysia campus and the United Nations Association of Malaysia (UNAM). Provost/CEO of the University of Nottingham Malaysia campus, Professor Graham Kendall in his speech commented, “This year’s competition is particularly exciting as it tackles a subject that is challenging and timely. It is interesting to see how the younger generation addresses this challenging issue.”
This year, the chosen topic was one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders at a UN Summit in September 2015; Gender Equality. The committee asked ‘What Can be Done to Overcome Prejudice towards Gender Equality'. The Secretary-General of UNAM, YBhg Dato’ Zainal Abidin Haji Ahmad, in his opening speech mentioned, “There is an imperative need to view gender equality as not only a fundamental human right but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable nation. And this can only be achieved when human beings can access and enjoy the same rewards, resources and opportunities, regardless of their gender.”
The committee received entries from students from across Malaysia. The submitted essays were insightful to read and demonstrated a current views and understanding of the topic. The Chairperson of the Judging Committee, YBhg Dato' M. Santhananaban mentioned the difficulty of selecting winners from the list of submission of essays. He commented, “The entries were of a high standard and there was keen competition from all the participants.”
Left: Dato’ Zainal Abidin Haji Ahmad, Professor William Case, Centre: Professor Graham Kendall, Dato' M. Santhananaban, Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen bin Tengku Ismail (seated) Right: Dr Hsin-Vonn Seow with
winners and participants of the competition.
The first prize went to Govind Nair from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus. He received a certificate along with the prize money of RM2,000. The second prize winner, Bavani Ponnurangam Chinnathambi from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus received a certificate along with RM1,500 prize money. Bavani could not attend the ceremony as she was on the UK campus for exchange and was represented by her father. The third prize winner, Emily Chen Sue Mei bagged RM1,000 prize money with a certificate also from UNMC.
This year, the committee also awarded five consolation winners with RM100 prize money each. The winners are:
- Aswinkumar Nattuvally from Fairview International School Johor
- Colomboge Dona Hansika Darsnanie Jayawardana from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus
- Ahabullah Khan from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
- Wong Guan Ming from SMK Conchrane
- Muhammad Razin Noran from International Islamic University Malaysia
This essay competition is an annual event. You can look out for the announcement of the competition by visiting The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus website or the Facebook page announcement.
Posted on 19th December 2017