ASiS International Essay Writing Competition – AIWC

2011
Posted on March 10, 2011 by admin

The Organiser :

SM Sains Alam Shah (Alam Shah Science School), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (ASiS) in
collaboration with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia,
The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and the World Wide for Nature Malaysia
(WWFM).

Theme :

Conservation of Wildlife: A Global Perspective

Topic :

“The Conservation of Wildlife In My Country”

Calendar 2011

11 March 2011 – Launch of the Essay Writing Competition

30 June 2011 – Deadline for submissions.

31 July 2011 – The 50 shortlisted participants will be announced on the website

15 September 2011 – The top three award winning entries and the next seven best entries
(consolation) will be announced on the website.

The Conservation of Wildlife

Worldwide industrial development and the expansion of agriculture in the late 19th
century and throughout the 20th century have resulted in loss of forest cover as well as
habitat destruction and degradation. Many species of plants animals have became
endangered and some became extinct as a result of Man’s appetite for land and the thrill
of hunting. Notable examples include the once numerous Passenger Pigeon and the
Carolina Parakeet in North America; the former once occurred in the millions but
overhunting caused its extinction. The last Passenger Pigeon died in captivity in 1914.
The Quagga, a species of Zebra, was wiped out by settlers in South Africa in the late 19th
century. The great demand for tropical timber has resulted in the logging of pristine
tracts of equatorial rainforests worldwide. The largest, the Amazon basin, has now been
greatly reduced. The forests of the Congo basin are now just a fraction of what it was a
century ago. And the world’s oldest equatorial forests in South-East Asia, which date
back to over 130 million years ago, are almost gone. In order for conservation of wildlife
to succeed, each nation has to first and foremost secure and protect core wildlife habitats
in either a pristine or a degraded state. With core wildlife habitats secure, the continual
survival of viable populations of various species of wildlife can be sustained.

The ASiS International Essay Writing Competition 2011 (AIWC)0 would like to hear the
views of school students worldwide on the efforts undertaken to conserve wildlife in their
respective countries. In this respect, prospective participants are required to :

1. Give a clear cut definition of the issue at hand.

2. Give your perceptions of the situation in your respective countries.
3. Outline the roles of the government, non-governmental organizations, and the
people in efforts to conserve wildlife.
4. Focus on one or two threatened species of wildlife in your country.

Questions to address in your essay.

1. How have current wildlife conservation efforts in your country helped in

preserving the different key habitats there?
2. How do you perceive the long term benefits of wildlife conservation to your
country and the world at large?
3. What concrete actions would you recommend to ensure cooperation between all
concerned parties in efforts to successfully conserve wildlife in your country?

We encourage you to draw on your personal experiences when possible and focus on
providing your own creative solutions to ensure the conservation of wildlife in your
country and its long term benefits.

General

All work must be submitted by individuals, group work is not allowed.

One participant may submit only one work.

All submissions must be submitted together with the official entry form which will be
available online.

Format, rules and regulations.

Your essay must be not longer than 3000 words.

Essays are accepted only on MS Word Document, using Arial, font size 12.

Submissions will be accepted until 30 June 2011.

This essay competition is open for school students only from ALL countries of the
world. Participants must be between the ages of 15-18 on 30 June 2011.

All essays must be in English.

Submissions must be sent via email to aiwc2011@asiskl.org and must be together with
the official entry form (AIWC -2011 – PARTICIPATION). Please also include your
postal / mailing address.

Please fill in your name in the official entry form only. Do not include your name in the
body of the essay.

Participants must provide the websites of their respective schools when submitting their
entries.

Each essay must be accompanied by a short summary (maximum 200 words). The
summary will be used by the jury to make a pre-selection.

Quotes and references must be clearly marked throughout the essay and properly cited.

All submissions must be original. No previously published material will be accepted. Any
form of plagiarism will result in automatic disqualification.

The Organizer reserves the right to publish and / to make available to the public the
winning submissions.

The decision of the jury is final and is not subject to an appeal.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the deadline for submissions? The deadline for submissions is 30 June
2011. Work submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
2. How do I submit? The submission process is very simple. Essays are submitted on
MS Word (Arial, font size 12) via email. No other format is allowed.
3. Who is eligible to participate? This essay writing competition is open for school
students of all countries. College and university students are not eligible to
participate.
 4. I am just under 15 or just over 18 – can I still participate? This competition is
intended only for school students between 15 – 18 years of age. If you are
between these ages on 30 June 2011, you are eligible. No exceptions will be
granted. If you are 18 years and 1 day on that date, you are still eligible, so long
as you don’t reach 19 years. Those who are 14 years and 11 months will not be
considered as you have not reached 15.
5. In what language shall I submit my work? This essay can only be written in
English.
6. Am I allowed to include graphs, tables, or diagrams in my essay? Yers, you are
welcome (but not obliged to) to include the mentioned. The content will not count
into the total number of words in your essay. Please make sure you explain what
each graph, table, or diagram represents.
7. What is the summary of the essay? You are asked to write a summary to go with
your essay, which cannot exceed 200 words. The summary should explain the
aim, the methodology, the reasoning and main conclusion of your essay. The
summary is important, as pre-selection of the essays will be based on the
assessment of these only. This means that a good essay without a summary or a
poorly written summary will not be graded highly.
8. What are the evaluation criteria for the submissions? Essays will be graded for
their structure and coherence, originality and creativity and the use of thoughtful
and concrete proposals / examples.
9. Do I need to address all questions? Yes, you need to address all questions in your
essay.

Prizes

1. First Prize – US$300.00 and a certificate of participation.

2. Second Prize – US$200.00 and a certificate of participation.
3. Third Prize – US$100.00 and a certificate of participation.
4. Seven consolation prizes of US$50.00 and certificates of participation.