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Essay Competition
The essay competition is open to all secondary school students and members of the public. Winning entries will be published in an essay compilation book and distributed to all participating schools.
Last updated 21 March 2025
Categories
Competition Categories (School vs. Open Category)
School Category | Open Category |
|---|---|
Junior Senior | Ages 13 and above |
Essay Topics
Participants must select an essay topic from the relevant category.
School Junior (Sec 1 - 2)
Topic 1: You came to know of a family who had honoured their loved one’s wishes to donate his/her organs despite their own immense grief. You have been given permission for two exclusive interviews with them: (i) immediately after they decided to donate; and (ii) three months after the donation. Write an article on their struggles, what motivated them to donate, how it impacted themselves and others, and the differing thoughts between both interviews.
Topic 2: You chanced upon a news article of a gentleman who unfortunately passed away from a road traffic accident and had donated his organs to benefit six patients. The gentleman’s child happened to be a student from your school. You are motivated to write to the student to encourage him/her, while being sensitive to the sudden loss.
Write an email to the student, stating clearly:your condolences to the student on the loss of his/her father
on how you felt on hearing the news of his donation
your offer of non-monetary support
reassurance of how he/she should be proud of his/her father’s donation
You may add other details that you think will be helpful. Write your email in clear, accurate English. Your tone should be polite and empathetic to encourage the student during this difficult time.
You should use your own words as much as possible.
School Senior (Sec 3 - 5)
Topic 1: Roadshows in heartlands are one of the most effective ways to engage, educate and encourage residents from all age groups on organ donation. Discuss.
Topic 2: Your school has been organising community service visits to a nearby dialysis centre. During one of the visits, you were surprised to learn that one of the dialysis patients felt embarrassed to ask his family members if they are willing to donate a kidney to him even though his family members are all healthy. You are motivated to write to the patient, encouraging him to discuss this with his family.
Write an email to the patient, stating clearly:your empathy about his condition and the arduous nature of dialysis
how can a kidney transplant be of help to his family
how his loved ones may not have considered donation if he had not asked
your suggestions for him to bring up the discussion with his family in a sensitive manner
You may add other details that you think will be helpful. Write your email in clear, accurate English. Your tone should be polite and persuasive to encourage the patient to discuss the matter with his family.
You should use your own words as much as possible.
Open
Topic 1: “In giving, we receive; and in saving lives, we honour our own” (Anonymous). Discuss this in the context of both living and deceased organ donation.
Topic 2: It is important that organ donation awareness and engagement efforts reach every age group in society equally. Discuss.
Important submission information
This competition is open to Singapore residents (Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents, and residents with work permit / employment pass / student pass).
All essays should be typewritten and submitted in word document with the following formatting: Arial font type, font size of 12 with 1.5 spacing with clear paragraphing.
The maximum word count (excluding title, references and footnotes) for the essays are as follows:
Maximum word count for each category.
Type of writing | Category | Maximum word count limit |
|---|---|---|
Continuous Writing | Junior | 750 |
Senior & Open | 1500 | |
Situational Writing | Junior | 500 |
Senior & Open | 1000 |
The essay submitted must be original work. All essays must not have been published or awarded by other organisations or other competitions. Essays must not be plagiarised from other sources. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are permissible for conceptualisation purposes only and the final entry submitted should not be generated by AI. Essays may be submitted to Turnitin and other AI-detection tools for plagiarism check.
There is no limit to the number of essays submitted, but each participant is only entitled to one prize.
Participants may work on their essay in groups, but each winning essay will only receive one prize.
To ensure that the entries submitted are received successfully, each essay submitted should be named in the following format:
[Category]_[Topic]_[Full School Name – where applicable]_[Participant Full name]
e.g: Junior_1_ABC Secondary School_XYZ.png
Please refer to the guide [PDF, 1.6 MB] for more details on the Festival.
For school based submission (Junior/ Senior/Open Category):
An application form is required for each artwork submitted. Teachers may download the application form [PDF, 180 KB] or submit the application form through the online form. Teachers may also opt for group submission of the application details through the consolidated application form [XLSX, 20 KB].
The teacher-in-charge can arrange for group submission of essays and application form(s) by contacting NOTU at liveonlivetwice@notu.com.sg. The essays can be submitted through a compressed zip folder or uploaded through a weblink (such as WeTransfer or Google Drive – access would need to be granted to liveonlivetwice@notu.com.sg).
For individual submission (Junior/ Senior/ Open Category):
All individual submissions are to be submitted through the online form in a word document format.
Judging Criteria
Essays will be evaluated based on the following:
Assessment Criteria |
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Prizes
All participants will receive a certification of participation. Winners in the Junior, Senior and Open categories can win cash vouchers and additional prizes.
1st Prize
$500 Cash Voucher
2nd Prize
$350 Cash Voucher
3rd Prize
$200 Cash Voucher
& More
Submit your work for Live On Festival now!
Submission of entries signifies your acceptance of the terms and conditions listed in this page.
Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions
The school category of this competition is open to full time students enrolled in MOE Secondary Schools, including schools offering Integrated Programme (year 1 – 4 only). The open category is open to all Singapore residents age 13 and above (Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents, and residents with work permit/employment pass/student pass). Participants must select an essay topic from the relevant category.
The essay submitted must be in relation to the chosen topic within the relevant category, in the aspect of organ donation and transplantation. The essay should be written in English.
Essays submitted shall be in good quality and must not contain any elements that are deemed indecent, blasphemous, libellous, offensive, pornographic, politically insensitive, racially insensitive, or otherwise unlawful or depict any inappropriate activity. The National Organ Transplant Unit (NOTU) reserves the rights to reject any entry that is deemed to be inappropriate.
The essay submitted must be original work. All essays must not have been published or awarded by other organisations or other competitions. Essays must not be plagiarised from other sources. Essays may be submitted to Turnitin for plagiarism check. In the case of copyright infringement and/ or plagiarism, the entry will be disqualified. For school participants, NOTU may inform the school of such disqualification. As for the winning entries, qualifications will be cancelled and the prize must be returned to the organiser. In the case of late discovery of copyright infringement and/ or plagiarism and that the winning entry has been published, the participant shall pay organisers any damages, monetary or otherwise, which may be incurred as a result.
The essay submitted must be the participant’s own work, and cannot be excessively corrected or improved by another person. This does not rule out inputs or assistance by others.
For School (Junior | Sec 1 - 2) category, the maximum word count is 500 (Situational writing) and 750 (Continuous writing). For School (Senior | Sec 3 - 5) category, the maximum word count is 1000 (Situational writing) and 1500 (Continuous writing). For Open category, the maximum word count is 1500. These word limits apply to all topics and all formats. Exceeding the word count will result in automatic disqualification. Title, references and footnotes are not included in the word count.
The organiser, NOTU, retains the non-exclusive, perpetual, world-wide, royalty-free license, with right to sublicense, to keep and use submitted entries for any purpose consistent with the mission of NOTU, including educational, archival and research purposes. The organiser reserves the right to rewrite, publish, copy and distribute the winning entries or parts of the contents of the winning entries at any time and in any places, without additional consent from or paying a fee to the author. By participating in this competition, the participant hereby consents to the organising committee, NOTU to produce collaterals, and to perform marketing and awareness activities with the submitted essay. The collaterals may be used by NOTU at, but not limited to, public roadshows or events.
Essay contents shall conform to Singapore’s laws and regulations, abiding by social morality and good orders. The contents shall not allude to attacking or disparaging the reputation of others.
There is no limit to the number of essays submitted, but each participant is only entitled to one prize.
School participants are encouraged to submit their entries to their teacher-in-charge, or through the online form. Open participants are to submit their entries through the online form.
11. All entries must be received by 2359 hours on 30 May 2025 (Friday). All entries submitted will be acknowledged accordingly. An acknowledgement screen will be shown for all successful FormSG submissions. Please keep a screenshot of the reference number if required. For email submissions, please contact NOTU at 63213649 / 63265878 or liveonlivetwice@notu.com.sg if you do not receive an acknowledgement within 3 working days. NOTU will not accept any responsibility for non-receipt of entries for submissions which are not acknowledged
Winning essays are selected at the judges’ sole discretion. The judges’ decision is final.
Winners will be contacted as per contact details listed in the application form. Winners who are uncontactable will have been deemed to have made an incomplete submission, and the prizes will be withdrawn.
Winners are required to attend an awards ceremony schedduled to be held on one of the Saturdays in August 2025 (tentative). Winners are required to nominate a proxy to attend the ceremony if they are unable to attend the ceremony.
A photograph of the winner may be requested for release on NOTU’s webpage, published collaterals, roadshows and exhibitions nationwide.
Prizes are not transferable or exchangeable for cash. NOTU accepts no responsibility for any tax or other liability that may arise from the prize winnings. Prizes are subject to availability and NOTU reserves the right to substitute the prizes with another item of a similar value without prior notice.
Submission of entries signify your acceptance of the terms and conditions listed herein.