Viva Vivace! Radio Drama Competition for Secondary Schools

The Swire Organisation for Youth Arts (SOYA) and Radio Television Hong Kong Radio 4 (RTHK Radio 4) announced today (20 June, Monday) at a press conference the launch of the Viva Vivace! Radio Drama Competition for secondary schools.

The competition is part of a joint effort by both organisations to discover and promote Chinese scriptwriting talent in local schools. The event aspires to cultivate local creative potential through engaging students in a series of workshops and studio rehearsals taught by professionals in the theatre and radio fields.

The event will include a series of workshops including scriptwriting and broadcasting techniques. Dr Vicki Ooi and Miss Lynn Yau, theatre veterans and educators, have been invited to be the Consultants to the competition. Workshop instructors are Ms Pearl Tong, Ms Wong Hoi Shan and Yat Yau, professionals from the field. Adjudicators for shortlisting schools and the final competition include Mr Rupert Chan, Dr Cheung Ping Kuen, Mr Ko Ting Lung, Professor Jane Lai, Dr Lo Wai Luk, well-known local dramatists, translators and scriptwriters, and representatives from SOYA and RTHK.

In addition to the gaining experience and awards for secondary school students, the competition finals will be recorded live before an audience in RTHK to be broadcasted on Radio 4 enabling the public at large to enjoy performances given by finalists. Appropriate workshop materials and winning entries will likewise be produced as educational materials in support of Liberal Studies in Hong Kong. These will be distributed free to all schools and educational institutions.

Mr Michael Tien, Chairman, of SCOLAR (The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research), was the Guest of Honour at the press conference. He said, "I appreciate the organizers' provision of a series of workshops conducted by veteran tutors enabling students to acquire knowledge of radio drama scriptwriting and techniques in using music, sound effects and live recording. Through these interactive activities, students will gain a more practical understanding of radio drama, garner hands on experience and an opportunity to express their creativity. I am confident this event will prove to be beneficial to students' writing and verbal skills."

Senior Portfolio Manager of Swire Properties, Mr Norman Chan said, "We feel there is a pool of talent among students in our community that could be nurtured as writers and we are looking to cultivating them for radio drama initially. As the scheme matures, we will be exploring other avenues of artistic development as well."

Amy Kwong, Head of Radio 4, explained the theme, "As both organisations are dedicated to the promotion of arts and the community, we felt that the theme should revolve round the idea of using the arts as a springboard to creating a radio drama and drawing in community elements from the students' home, school and community life. By so doing, we hope to show the competition's support for Liberal Studies, part of the education reforms in Hong Kong."

The competition is open to students who will be in Form 3 and 4 for the new school year this September. The event will be divided into two stages with the competition being aired on RTHK Radio 4: Phase 1 will offer a workshop for up to 50 school teams interested in participating the competition; a shortlist of 15 schools will then be selected for three workshops on writing techniques; Phase 2 will see a further shortlist of 5 finalist schools whose teams will be coached in RTHK studios on broadcasting techniques. The competition itself will take place before a live audience and panel of adjudicators in RTHK's Studio 1 in February 2006. Winning entries will be produced as educational materials for territory-wide dissemination to all secondary schools.

About SOYA (Swire Organisation for Youth Arts)
Set up by Swire Properties, SOYA strives to promote arts developments in Hong Kon g and help nurture young people who are artistic and creative through various programmes.