DCB Students Bag Awards at the Third Chinese Picture Book Writing Contest

On Friday 2 June, DCB hosted the 3rd International School Chinese Picture Book Contest award ceremony at our Wodehouse Theatre. Since its founding three years ago, the beloved Chinese picture book competition has attracted enthusiastic participation from Junior School students at international and bilingual schools across China and overseas. This year, nearly 900 students from almost 20 schools submitted their high-quality works. External judges reviewed all the picture books diligently, and many of our DCB students achieved remarkable results. Congratulations to everyone for a job well done! 

Here are the winners of the Best Picture Book Award:

• Olivia C, Year 3 Rainbow Bridge
• Doris L, Year 4 Express Delivery Bunny
• Alex Z，Year 4 Searching for the Earth NO. 2
• Chuck L, Year 4 Solar System Party
• Jacqueline L, Year 5 The Great Adventure in the Solar System
• Ryan C, Year 5 Wandering in the Universe
• Nina L (not in photo), Year 5 Drifting in the Universe

The ceremony marked the annual event's first time done offline, signifying a momentous step forward in bringing together talented young authors and illustrators in a physical setting. First initiated during the pandemic, the competition has grown with the students, providing them an opportunity to let their creativity and imagination shine despite the challenges of the times. The students demonstrated amazing resilience and responsibility as they independently completed their picture book stories. It is truly remarkable to see how, in this year's picture books, students have integrated global citizenship perspectives into their radiant ideas and colourful imagination. The students’ works also showcased their artistic and language learning achievements. Participating in the picture book competition will undoubtedly become a valuable experience for their future learning and life.

Our guest speaker Professor Ge Jing, a renowned children’s literature author and Associate professor at the Beijing Film Academy, gave a wonderful speech about reading intelligently and writing for pleasure. Ms Jing encouraged students to continue to read and to see the world, to practise writing through reading and taking notes, and to establish their own thinking in the process of observing the world.

After Ms Jing's inspiring talk, three award-winning student representatives, Alex Z, Jacqueline L, and Ryan C, walked onto the stage and shared their carefully crafted picture books to the hundreds of eager audience members. 

At DCB, respecting and understanding the local community is an integral part of our mission to Live Worldwise. DCB students explore different cultures, backgrounds and perspectives – including both local and overseas – thereby preparing them for a constantly changing diverse world. In our Chinese learning, we greatly value students' understanding and experience of Chinese culture. Junior School students engage in topic-based learning, a cross-curricular approach that integrates different subject matter under an umbrella topic or an area of interest. As a meaningful complement to in-classroom learning, the Chinese picture book competition offers students a way to demonstrate their Chinese learning achievements, enhancing students' interests in Chinese culture and language. Ultimately, we hope the various formats of learning and activities can help students understand the sophisticated nature of the language, inspire students to explore the profound humanistic spirit of traditional culture, and therefore connect with the Chinese language and culture in positive ways.