Harvard Book Prize Award Ceremony

As one of the many winners for the Harvard book prize, I feel honored for being able to join such a grand ceremony with some of my fellow schoolmates in celebration of our achievements in the essay competition at Diocesan Boys’ School on 20 September.

In the competition, participants were required to write a book review on a selected book. This year, the Book Prize theme is “Born Digital = Disconnected?” The ceremony was glamorous and enjoyable as well. The guest speaker of the ceremony, Richard Chow, CEO of the charity ChickenSoup Foundation, talked about the ethics and morals of the use of the internet. He pointed out how teenagers are probably too used to posting things online, without realizing any of the consequences. He also explained how the essay was supposed to make the competitors be more aware of the issue. ‘Once you put something on the internet, you can never take it back.’ This was definitely the most memorable quote of the evening for me. The number of student participants from nearly 250 schools also shocked me as well. More than 700 students from local and international schools came for the ceremony that night and it was nice to see all of us getting recognized for our English ability.

I am so thankful to my English teachers for giving me a chance to join this great competition and for the time they spent advising me on my essays. If I were given a chance to join this once more, I would not hesitate to take that chance. I would definitely recommend other students to join this competition as well, if they wish to either express their opinions or to test their abilities in English writing.

Anna Wong (6B), the Winner of the Harvard Book Prize

That was a precious opportunity our teachers and the school gave us to peak into the global spectacle, where the competition essays were about our aim to study in the top school, and about the ethical and moral problems happening on the internet nowadays and how we can handle or reduce the impact. The presence of a teacher mentor working on my drafts within the weeks of preparation has been the greatest booster of my confidence in this high-sounding writing contest.

April Lee (6E), the Runner-up of the Harvard Book Prize