Malaysian Students Can Win Bursaries, Cash Prizes & More By Flexing Their Writing Skills
There's also a category that's open to Malaysian secondary school teachers.
By Gowri Chitra — 09 Mar 2021, 11:28 AM
Calling all secondary school students, Sunway Group’s Sunway-Oxbridge Essay Competition is back again!
As with the previous iterations, the Sunway-Oxbridge Essay Competition 2021 aims to promote and boost English proficiency among schools using the Malaysian syllabus nationwide.
Now in its eighth year, it is said to be the longest-running and most popular essay competition locally. Established in 2014, the competition has drawn a combined total of 19,042 participants to date.
Open to secondary school students, the competition is divided into two categories—Category A (Form 1 - Form 3 students) and Category B (Form 4 and Form 5 students)
Additionally, a new category has been introduced this year—Category C, which is open to Malaysian secondary school teachers.
All Malaysian secondary school students and teachers can participate in the Sunway-Oxbridge Essay Competition 2021, except for those using international syllabus.
To join the Sunway-Oxbridge Competition 2021, participants are required to submit original and unpublished English-language essays based on this year’s theme of 'Health and well-being'
Participants are only allowed to submit one essay each.
Here are the requirements for each category:
Category A
Word count: Minimum of 200 and maximum of 350 words
Topic: The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the challenges of online learning throughout Malaysia. What could make this better?
Category B
Word count: Minimum of 500 and maximum of 650 words
Topic: The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the challenges of online learning throughout Malaysia. How could this be alleviated in the future?
Category C
Word count: Minimum of 1,000 and maximum of 1,500 words
Topic: The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the challenges of online education throughout Malaysia. How could this be alleviated in the future?
The judging panel is made up of members of the Oxford and Cambridge Society Malaysia, as well as English teachers from the Ministry of Education
To stand a chance of winning, your essay must show the following:
- Originality and flair
- A link to academic standards
- Competent use of English as a written language, including proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation
50 finalists from the Klang Valley and 10 to 20 finalists from each venue in other parts of the country will be chosen for the on-site final.
Finalists from Categories A and B will be notified via email, and will then have to attend a sit-down essay competition on 29 May at selected locations nationwide. Accommodation and travel costs to the locations must be borne by the finalists.
Then, 13 winners will be chosen from each category. If you're one of the lucky winners, you will be notified via email to attend the prize-giving ceremony on 10 July at Sunway University in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur.
As for Category C, there is no on-site final.
Check out the awesome prizes up for grabs:
Categories A & B
First prize: RM5,000 in cash, a full Sunway bursary, 10,000 Sunway Pals Points, and award certificate, and a trophy
Second prize: RM3,000 in cash, a Sunway bursary worth RM15,000, 10,000 Sunway Pals Points, an award certificate, and a trophy
Third prize: RM1,000 in cash, a Sunway bursary worth RM10,000, 10,000 Sunway Pals Points, an award certificate, and a trophy
Consolation prize x 10: RM500 in cash, a Sunway bursary worth RM5,000, 10,000 Sunway Pals Points, an award certificate, and a medal
Category C
Champion: A laptop and a certificate of commendation
Consolation prize x 4: A token of appreciation and a certificate of commendation
All entries must be submitted through the official portal by 1pm on 31 March, so hurry up and get writing. Good luck, gais!
The Sunway-Oxbridge Essay Competition is organised by Sunway Group, the Oxford and Cambridge Society Malaysia, Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, and Sunway University, with support from Sunway PALS. The competition is fully endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
Click here for more information.
