This is India’s largest ever Essay Competition for School Students on international topics. This was organized by South Korea Cultural Centre India. The prizes were given by Honorable Mr. Lee Hai Hwang, Acting Ambassador, Republic of South Korea. The top four winners among the senior group got a free trip each to Korea for 6 Days and 5 Nights. Rest of the 40 winners got total cash prize of Rupees One Lakh Nineteen thousand (Rs. 1,19,000) and trophies. Considering the excellent response this year, one extra free trip to Korea was added as a prize. So this year in place of three, four top winners are going to experience Korea free as a prize. The winners will be visiting Korea in the last week of September 2017.
This annual competition was organized for fifth time in a row. Like last year, this year’s competition also had different topics and prizes for Senior and Junior Groups.
The Junior Group consisted of classes 7 to 9 and its Topic was “What I like about South Korea” and Senior Group consisted of classes 10 to 12 and its Topic was “Why I want to visit South Korea”. Students from all 29 States and 7 Union Territories of India participated in this competition making this a true All India Contest.
A unique and unprecedented project, the India Korea Friendship Essay Competition succeeded in bringing out heart-touching expressions in the form of essays from the Indian students. Some wrote emotionally, some drew beautiful images, some used poetry, but surely all poured their hearts out.
Winners came to Korean Cultural Centre India located at Lajpat Nagar, Delhi from Mizoram, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Assam, Punjab, and many other parts of India. Winner students, their parents and Principals interacted with media and told interesting stories about this competition. Mr. Kim Kum-pyoung, Director, Korean Cultural Centre India appreciated the diligence of Indian students, while giving away the certificates.
Care was taken to make sure that this opportunity to know about Korean history. culture and tourist attractions and win attractive prizes reached schools across whole of India – geographically, socially and economically. More than 1000 schools were contacted for participation during this seven month long competition targeted at Indian school students. Thousands of phone calls, faxes and emails kept the interaction going between the organizers and participating students, their teachers, principals and parents. A dedicated website www.koreaindiaessay.com helped the participants to get all the relevant information from a single source.
