PRIZE: The first prize is a RM300 Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) premium savings certificate, the second prize is RM200, and the third is RM100. There will be seven consolation prizes, an award for the most creative entry as well as an award for the school that sends in the most entries.
DEADLINE: July 31 2008
WEBSITE/URL: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/National/2235356/Article/index_html

DESCRIPTION:
Students can create their own newspaper

BASF Petronas senior manager of human resource development and the communications department Jason Choi Kam Heng giving teachers some pointers on the ‘Create Your Own Newspaper’ project.

KUANTAN: A chemical company has come up with an innovative way to help primary school pupils improve their English.
Yesterday, BASF Petronas Chemicals Sdn Bhd launched its Crayon (Create Your Own Newspaper) Project, a competition that encourages pupils to be creative in their use of English.

Pupils from the 10 schools BASF sponsors in the New Straits Times Newspaper in Education (NST-NIE) programme can enter the competition.

The children must create the front page of a newspaper with their own masthead, main headline, news report and photographs. They can include advertisements, illustrations and cartoon strips as secondary elements.

They must take materials like photographs and cuttings of advertisements from the New Straits Times.
BASF Petronas senior manager of human resource development and the communications department Jason Choi Kam Heng said the competition could “add colour” to English lessons.

“Perhaps it could break the ice for students who feel that learning English is monot-onous and boring,” he told representatives from the schools at yesterday’s launch.

The 10 schools eligible to enter the contest are SK Beserah, SK Balok, SK Batu Tiga, SK Permatang Badak, SK Fakeh Abdul Samad, SK Tanjong Lumpur, SK Kempadang, SK Balok Baru, SK Balok Makmur and SJK(C) Kong Min.

The competition is open to pupils in Years Three to Five. Judging will be based on the children’s introduction of their main article, its contents, presentation, layout, creativity, language accuracy and neatness.

The first prize is a RM300 Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) premium savings certificate, the second prize is RM200, and the third is RM100. There will be seven consolation prizes, an award for the most creative entry as well as an award for the school that sends in the most entries.

Entries must be sent through the schools to the NST office here before July 31. The contact person is B.H. Thang at 09-5142601.

BASF Petronas, which operates a chemical plant at the Gebeng Industrial Area, is sponsoring over 14,000 copies of the NST for the 10 participating schools.