ONLINE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING

COMPETITION

FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

2021

RULES AND GUIDELINES

 ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION
FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS 2021

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Essay writing is a presentation of a story from the perspective of the writer. This
competition provides a platform for students to share their views, stories and
experiences expressed creatively through writing following provided theme.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

2.1 To increase pupils’ proficiency in English language writing skills

2.2 To provide a platform for students to display their talent in writing skills
using correct use of language, grammatically apt and precise creative
expression

2.3 To inculcate pupils’ interest in writing English language essays

3.0 ELIGIBILITY
This competition is open to all primary and secondary school pupils from
government-aided schools. The competition is divided into four categories;

3.1 Primary School : Year 4 – Year 6 pupils

3.2 Lower Secondary School : Form 1 – Form 3 pupils
3.3 Upper Secondary School : Form 4 and Form 5 pupils
3.4 Form 6 College/Class : Form 6 pupils

4.0 TOPICS
4.1 The essay topics given in 4.2 are for use at district and state levels
only. For national level competition, the Ministry of Education Malaysia
will provide new essay topics to the state representatives two weeks
before judging via the State Education Departments.

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 4.2 The topics are according to the following categories;
4.2.1 Primary and lower secondary school categories -
‘What makes a person beautiful?’

4.2.2 Upper secondary and form 6 categories -

‘Courtesy costs nothing but buys everything’

5.0 RULES AND GUIDELINES

5.1 Participants are allowed to submit ONLY one essay under one
category.
5.2 Essays must be submitted in .pdf file and uploaded via a link provided
by the organizer. The organizer will not be responsible for corrupt files
submitted.
5.3 Essays must be the pupil’s own work, authentic and original and must
never have been published or have won a prize in any other competition
prior to this competition. Plagiarized or translated works will be
disqualified immediately.
5.4 Essays must not touch on sensitive issues of ethnic, race and religion of
any kind.
5.5 Essay writing format
5.5.1 Essays must be given a title. Any personal information should be
specified in the entry form.
5.5.2 Essays must be typed with font Times New Roman, 12 with 1.5
spacing.
5.5.3 Completed essays must be submitted in .pdf file and given to the
teacher in charge.
5.5.4 Schools will submit the essays through a link given by State
Education Department to be judged at district and state level.
5.6 Word limit is based on categories as follows;
i) Primary School 250 to 350 words

ii) Lower Secondary School 400 to 500 words

iii) Upper Secondary School 750 to 1,000 words

iv) Form 6 1,000 to 1,300 words

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 5.7 All essays upon submission cannot be corrected or edited. Essays
submitted via schools will be going through district and state or national
level without any editing incurred.

5.8 Each essay submitted will not be returned to the author and the
organizer reserves the right to print and publish the winning essays of
this competition. However, the copyright remains as the property of the
author.

5.9 The organizer will not be liable for any form of claim related to plagiarism
against participants by any relevant party.

6.0 ADJUDICATION
6.1 Essays will be vetted by a panel of 3 to 5 judges appointed by the State
Education Departments or the Ministry of Education.
6.2 Marks will be allocated according to the following criteria:-
i) Content - 50 marks
ii) Language - 50 marks
6.3 Judges will collectively determine the placing by a clear majority vote.
6.4 Individual marks are confidential and will not be disclosed.
6.5 All decisions are final. No appeal is allowed.
6.6 A participant found in violation of rule 5.3 after the official results
announcement will be stripped of their title and prizes reclaimed as
appropriate.

7.0 AWARDS AND PRIZES

7.1 All participants will receive a certificate of participation.
7.2 All winners will receive a prize and a certificate of achievement.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
This concept paper is valid for 2021 until further notification or revision from the
Ministry of Education Malaysia and can be used at all levels for competitions organized
by the Ministry. The competition will abide to the above rules ONLY.

Division of Sports, Co-curricular and Arts

Ministry of Education Malaysia

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 ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION
FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

RUBRIC

REMARKS

i. The essay is assessed based on impression.

ii. The essay should be original.
iii. The essay must not touch on sensitive issues.
iv. If the essay does not meet the required number of words, the essay will be
graded a band lower.

SCORE CONTENT LANGUAGE

RANGE (50 marks) (50 marks)

A • Content is unique, provides a • Exceptionally clear and logical

new perspective and highly
(41 - 50) relevant to the theme
• Able to capture reader’s
attention and sustain interest
throughout.
organisation of ideas
• Shows mastery of the language
• Uses a variety of sentence
structures

• Broad lexical repertoire

• Maintains a high degree of

grammatical accuracy

B • Content is interesting and • Logical and clear arrangement

clearly relevant to the theme of ideas
(31 - 40)
• Able to connect to reader and • Highly accurate use of the
sustain interest language

• Good range of vocabulary

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SCORE CONTENT LANGUAGE
RANGE (50 marks) (50 marks)

C • Content is generally relevant to • Attempts to organise ideas and

the theme manages some correctly
(21 - 30)
• Attempts to connect to readers • Language is generally accurate
and able to sustain interest
sufficiently • Simple vocabulary

D • Content has limited relevance • Haphazard organisation of

(11 - 20) to the theme ideas

• Attempts to connect to readers • Simple structures and limited

but with little success vocabulary

• Frequent errors

E • Content has very limited • Hardly any coherence

(0 – 10) relevance to the theme
• Serious structural errors
• Unable to connect to readers
• Makes little sense

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 SCORE SHEET

ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION

____________________ CATEGORY
_____________ LEVEL / YEAR _________

Contestant Content Language Total Length of Remarks

No. (50 marks) (50 marks) essay
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Name of judge : _______________________ Date: ________________

Signature : _______________________

Bands A B C D E
Marks 41 - 50 31 - 40 21 - 30 11 - 20 0 - 10

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 FREQUENCY COUNT

ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION

____________________ CATEGORY
_____________ LEVEL / YEAR _________

JUDGE FINAL

PLACING 1 2 3 4 5 PLACING

CONTESTANT NO.

Judge 1 : ……………………………………………. Signature : ..………………………

Judge 2 : ……………………………………………. Signature : ..………………………
Judge 3 : ……………………………………………. Signature : ..………………………
Judge 4 : ……………………………………………. Signature : ..………………………
Judge 5 : ……………………………………………. Signature : ..………………………

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 RESULT

ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION

____________ CATEGORY
_______________LEVEL/YEAR __________
CHAMPION

Contestant No. : ………………………………………………

State : ………………………………………………

2ND PLACING

Contestant No. : ………………………………………………

State : ………………………………………………

3RD PLACING

Contestant No. : ……………………………………………...

State : ………………………………………………

4TH PLACING

Contestant No. : ……………………………………………….

State : ……………………………………………….

5TH PLACING

Contestant No. : ……………………………………………….

State : ……………………………………………….

Judge Name Signature

Chief Judge
Judge 2
Judge 3
Judge 4
Judge 5

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