Winners of National Environmental Story Contest Announced

The “Brighter Minds for a Brighter World National Environmental Education Story Contest” began on January 28, 2022 After seven and a half months, the winners of the Judge Award were announced on September 14, in the same week as the 2022 International Coastal Cleanup Day. The awards were handed out by the contest advisory, the Ministry of Education; the organizer Covestro Taiwan, jointly organizer  wpd Taiwan; and co-organizers including the German Institute Taipei (GIT), the German Trade Office Taipei (GTO), the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan, and the Construction and Planning Agency. The 69 winners of the Judge Awards of 24 categories come from 15 cities across Taiwan, including remote islands such as Penghu. The winners include hearing-impaired, visually-impaired, and students without disabilities.

Visually-impaired toddler learns about current marine issues via participating the competition

Shen Ying-chun, a visually-impaired child from Changhua county, entered the competition when she was four years old. Ying-chun’s reading ability is limited by her vision, but thanks to her rich life experience, unlimited imagination and clear memory capacity, she won Second Place in the under-8 age group category.

Ying-chun’s mother Shih Yu-wen says, “I’m so grateful to Covestro Taiwan for hosting this event and the audiobook feature of the competition app allowing special needs students like Ying-chun to learn about the existing environmental challenges. It helped her realize at young age that the trash flowing into the ocean can bring such great harm to her beloved marine creatures!”

Ying-chun says, “I want to share with all the kids around the world about the proper ways to protect our mother earth together!” Judge Liao Shuang-ching, MOE Senior Executive Officer, points out, “As a four-year-old, she is already outstanding in the competition. With her special background, it is simply impressive!” Touched by her attitude and performance, organizers Covestro Taiwan and wpd Taiwan decided to give Shen Ying-chun an extra “Special Award” equal to the First Place Prize.

Hearing-impaired winner calls for action on the environment

Zhu Yaqin, a sixth-grade student from a hearing-impaired school in Tainan, won first place in the hearing-impaired primary school’s recital category. In her commitment, she called on the public to take the initiative to care about environmental issues and take practical actions to protect the environment. Zhu Yaqin’s mother said, “I would like to thank Covestro for its long-term care for hearing-impaired children. By donating science experiment classrooms and providing normal science clubs to the special school that Yaqin went to, Covestro let her have the opportunity to engage with science. The hearing-impaired category in the contest this time also allows hearing-impaired students to speak up for the environment and be heard by everyone!”

From environmental polluter to earth guardians

The biggest winner of the competition was Wang Min-en of Taipei Ximen Elementary School. Not only did he win both the Chinese Story Recital and the English Story Creation in the 9 to 12 age group categories, he also formed the “Ximen Dream Team” with his friends, which was the champion team in the Chinese and English Story Creation in the Group categories with their reverse-thinking storytelling technique. “Through this exploration from a misunderstanding to the understanding of the environment, the Ximen Dream Team has demonstrated an extremely high level of storytelling creativity,” said Judge Bikoffee Huang, Director & Managing Editor, New Business Dept. of CommonWealth Magazine

“Ocean waste is one of the biggest global environmental concerns. The conservation and protection of marine resources is the responsibility of us all. To tackle the problem we have to change our behaviors,” said Dr. Jörg Polster, Director General of the GIT. “GIT is pleased to see so many children from all over Taiwan participating in the “Brighter Minds for a Brighter World” Storytelling Competition. The contest helps children to learn about the damaging effect pollution has on the marine ecological environment. Through their participation, they make a commitment to the planet to lead an environmentally-friendly life to protect our oceans.”

“The art of storytelling, is one way to foster an individual’s development. The combination of such storytelling with sustainability and environmental protection is a major tool for our collective future wellbeing,” said Mr. Axel Limber, Director General of the GTO. “This is a great CSR project idea from Covestro and wpd to get the younger generation to engage. Since every adult is born a child, the trends of our business operation today are sustainability, green energy, and care for the ocean. All these wonderful concepts will be transferred from today’s competition to the next generation.” GTO is also the 2^nd place Judge Award’s prize sponsor.

Weiwei Tseng, General Manager of wpd Taiwan, said: “wpd is a global renewable energy producer and operator dedicated to accelerating clean energy development. Since wind farms in Taiwan are usually close to the seaside or even at sea, we attach great importance to the environment, including the promotion of marine and wind energy education. wpd is very excited to jointly organize the “National Environmental Story Competition” with Covestro and hopes this event can truly help children to understand the importance of marine conservation, and learn how to protect the ocean in their own way, thereby expanding their influence to each child's home and school. I am very happy that we have received positive feedback from so many schools and children!” The 1^st place prize of the competition was provided by wpd Taiwan.

“Mankind is searching for water in space, but on our planet the conditions of rivers, lakes, and oceans are often neglected. We must prompt the public, especially the younger generation, to take water pollution seriously and fight against it. That’s why Covestro is so glad to see more than 650 children made their heartful commitments to our earth and ocean in our competition this time round,” said Dr. Carsten Wildebrand, Managing Director of Covestro Taiwan. “I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to all our partners for all their kind support in making this competition successful. Together we can make the world a better and brighter place!”

The list of winners of the Judge Awards was announced on the official competition’s website www.contest.covestro.tw at 2 p.m. on September 14.