Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) set up the SHKP Book Club to encourage reading for the benefit of society. The Club's second book review competition drew over 9,400 entries including submissions from more than 600 schools, demonstrating the strong reading culture in Hong Kong. Competition winners received their prizes at a ceremony today (April 24) and details of the Club's next book review competition were announced.

SHKP promotes education by sponsoring a variety of programmes for young people and encouraging life-long learning. The Book Club was set up last April to foster reading in Hong Kong and its second book review competition that ran from last October to January this year was very popular. Judges Prof. Lawrence J Lau, Vice Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof. John Leong, President of the Open University of Hong Kong, Dr. Philemon Choi, Chairman of the Commission on Youth, Mr. Ivan Choy, Senior Instructor in the Department of Government and Public Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ms Chau Mat-mat, Director of the Federation of Hong Kong Writers and Dr. Raymond Kwok, SHKP Vice Chairman and Managing Director presented prizes to the competition winners and representatives of the three most enthusiastic schools.

Quality submissions in record numbers

Mr Kwok said: "We were impressed by the increases in the number of entrants and schools taking part in the competition. There were over 9,400 entries, a three-fold increase over the last round, from more than 600 schools. The entrants ranged in age from 6 to 67 and their reviews were generally better than in the last competition. We have given out more than 2,000 book coupons as prizes in the two competitions, and some of the better reviews are posted online in recognition of the entrants' work."

The winning entries include an encouraging poem written by an eight-year-old whose father died for the two young authors who lost their father to SARS and a true love story by a 65 year old. Entrants came from all kinds of backgrounds, including parents and children entering together, people with disabilities and girls living in government hostels. The judges were impressed with the emotion and positive messages about family and life in many of the reviews.

Next competition themed 'embracing your dream'

The Book Club's third competition will be on ten books on the theme of embracing your dream, to encourage people to live positively and pursue their goals. Reviews can be written in Chinese or English, in any format. The competition will have junior, intermediate and senior categories for different ages, with a first prize of HK$8,000, second prize of HK$5,000 and third prize of HK$3,000 (all including book coupons) in each category. Several hundred reviews will be given honourable mentions and HK$300 book coupons. The number of Most Enthusiastic School awards will increase to five, with HK$5,000 book coupons for each winning school. The deadline for entries will be October 8 this year.

More exciting activities to come

The Book Club will stage a series of seminars in collaboration with publishers and bookstores in the coming year, with noted authors speaking about reading, as well as book fairs and mall activities on the embracing your dream theme and other major promotions. The Book Club in conjunction with Joint Publishing, the Commercial Press and Hong Kong Book Centre is also extending special offers to schools wanting to buy recommended books.

The Book Club has organized a number of activities since it was started last April, including a good books poll, seven meet-the-author sessions, Chinese Cultural Week book fair and seminars with noted figures in the performing arts and cultural sector speaking about reading, giving people a chance to learn how reading can change their lives. There was also a parent-child reading corner in one SHKP mall to help children develop an interest in literature.