Story Competition for “Imagine A More Liveable Kyrenia”

The theme of the sixth story competition, which is the traditional event of Girne Municipality for 6th, 7th and 8th grades, has been announced.  The theme of the story competition is “Imagine a More Liveable Girne”.

A press conference was held at Giorne Municipality on Tuesday, December 5, regarding the competition. At the press conference, it was also announced that a questionnaire booklet for children would be distributed simultaneously with the story contest.   The booklet, prepared by the European Commission, was translated into Turkish and adapted to the City of Girne, and it was stated that the purpose of the questionnaire booklet was to increase, in children, the sense of belonging.  Girne Mayor, Murat Şenkul, Ministry of National Education Secondary Education Department Director, Cengiz Topel Uzun, Girne Municipality Social Affairs Branch Chief and Municipality Culture and Art Advisor, Serdar Tuksal and Girne Region school principals attended the press conference.

Mayor of Girne, Murat Şenkul,  said that while the Municipality is working to increase the welfare of the city and make it more liveable, in this process it also wants to receive the ideas and wishes of young people, who are the future of the country and the city.  Şenkul noted that with the story competition, they will get both the ideas of young people and encourage talented young people by making them love literature.  Stating that individuals in Girne, where the immigrant population is dense, are losing their sense of belonging to the city day by day, Şenkul emphasized that it is essential to create this sense of belonging in order to create a more liveable city.  The booklet prepared by the European Commission was translated into Turkish and adapted by the City of Girne in order to create this feeling in young people, who are the future of the city and the country. Şenkul said that the questionnaire booklet is titled “How to Increase the Welfare of the City” and will be distributed to 6th, 7th and 8th grades in parallel with the competition.

Cengiz Topel Uzun, Director of the Secondary Education Department of the Ministry of National Education, said that the cooperation of the ministry, local governments, institutions, universities, and non-governmental organizations is of great importance in giving young people, who are the future of the country, a sense of belonging to their country. Stating that the Green Schools Project and Entrepreneurship Courses, which were implemented in cooperation with the Ministry GİKAD and Final International University, are the best examples of these projects, Uzun said that, as the ministry, they will continue to contribute to such projects that will enable children and young people to feel a sense of belonging to their country. In the “Imagine a More Liveable Girne” story competition for 6th, 7th and 8th grades, the first place will be awarded 5,000 Turkish liras, the second place will be awarded 3,000Turkish liras, and the third place will be awarded 2,000 Turkish liras.

Competition Rules

6th grade, 7th grade and 8th grade students studying in all private and public schools in the Kyrenia region can participate in the competition.

• Turkish should be used as the written language.
• The stories to be sent to the competition must be written on A4 unlined paper, either by hand or on the computer.
• Stories should consist of a minimum of 3 (three) and a maximum of 5 (five) A4 sheets, and only the front sides of the papers should be used.
• Stories that are not original (sent as photocopies) will not be evaluated.
• Pictures taken from somewhere and pasted onto the work or hand-drawn cannot be included anywhere in the stories.
• Personal information about the student or school cannot be included on the front of the stories to be sent to the competition.
• After the story is completed, an information form consisting of the student’s name-surname, school, address, phone number, photograph and a short CV should be added to a new A4 page.
  The stories of participants who do not comply with the rules stated in the above articles will not be evaluated.

Source (Turkish): Girne Municipality