VOICE OF THE YOUTH NETWORK BLOGGER

Are Today's Youth Equal
to the Magsaysay Challenge?


…“You are equal to the task: you have the clear-eyed vigor of youth, and your minds have been sharpened into keen and precise instruments. You will not fail if you bear in mind always that your success and well-being as individuals cannot be separated from the well-being of your community, from the progress and development of your nation. You cannot fail if you have faith in your God and confidence in yourselves. As useful citizens of today, I welcome you. As leaders of tomorrow, I salute you…”

Thus spoke the much-loved Filipino president, with much faith, before the graduating students of the University of the Philippines in 1955. Fifty years later, the challenge continues, through the Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition (RMSEC). Now on its 4th cycle in the Philippines, RMSEC is a vehicle of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) to connect the remarkable lives and work of Magsaysay Awardees with the aspirations of the youth. Secondary and college students may well take the challenge and prepare to enter the competition. Educational institutions and teachers nationwide are enjoined to get their students to participate.

GREAT NEWS for all secondary and college students: the Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition is on. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) calls on high school and college students to take the center stage, and enjoins educational institutions and teachers nationwide to get their students to participate. What better way to spend summer meaningfully…


Students may surf the Foundation website – www.rmaf.org.ph – or visit its Asian Library. Read and research on the lives, work and dreams accomplished by the so-called unsung heroes of Asia – the Magsaysay awardees. They manifest the life of dignity and selfless service long associated with the much loved late Philippine president.

There are many available publications offering invaluable data to researchers. The Book of Record is a continuing compilation of the biographies of the awardees from 1958 when the first awards were given and is now on its 12th volume. There are the 2002 Book of Citations and its CD version, which incorporate all the official commendations; these are available at RMAF at discounted rates of P200 and P100, respectively. Co-published with Anvil Publishing Inc are two popular books, “Great Men and Women of Asia” and “Young Pens For Young Minds”. "Great...", the first in a five-book series on selected awardees by decade, captures the riveting and remarkable lives and work of fifteen Magsaysay Awardees selected from a roster of more than 50 honored by Asia's premier prize during its first decade, 1958-1967. "Young Pens" anthologizes a selection of winning essays in the first four years of the Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition (RMSEC), three in the Philippines from 2000 - 2003 and a maiden run in Korea in 2004. The two books are at affordable prices at all National Bookstores and Powerbooks outlets nationwide. All these reference materials are also at the Asian Library, Ground floor, Ramon Magsaysay Center, 1680 Roxas Boulevard, Manila; selected school libraries nationwide also hold Book of Record volumes.

By immersing themselves in these fine gems of humanity, students will discover inspiring subjects for the essay competition’s theme, “Inspiring Me To Make A Difference: Personal Lessons From A Magsaysay Awardee”. Missionaries and military leaders, farmers, housewives and heads of government, or great minds of science and gifted artistic souls, a rice research body and an international relief agency – these are among Asia’s living heroes – organizations and individuals who transcend race, gender and religion to display "greatness of spirit in service to the people. According to RMAF president Carmencita Abella, the Foundation looks at the competition as a crusade to animate the young generation to want to demonstrate the same selfless leadership in their own lives.

For competition mechanics and other information, please contact the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation at 521-3166 to 81 or toll free 1-800-1-888-2390, or through e-mail essay@rmaf.org.ph. Entry forms which may be downloaded from the RMAF website and reproduced, or available at schools and universities nationwide. Deadline for submission is on July 30, 2005. Entries may be forwarded to the following chairpersons of the Regional Boards of Judges:

Dr. Ma. Luz Vilches
Associate Professor & Chairperson, Department of English
School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University
Loyola Heights 1108, Quezon City
Tele-fax (632) 426-6120
Email: mvilches@ateneo.edu

Ms. Elvira S. Balinas
Department of English, College of Arts and Science
Angeles Univ. Foundation, Angeles City, Pampanga
Tel: (045) 888-2663 to 65 Local 712
E-mail: levbalinas@hotmail.com

Dr.Leoncio P. Deriada
214 San Jose St., Molo, Iloilo City 5000
Telephone: (033) 338-0268
Email: lp-deriada@yahoo.com

Prof. Christine Godinez-Ortega
College of Arts & Sciences, Mindanao State University -
Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City
T: (063) 221-4050 to 55 local 111
Email: girliebaylan@yahoo.com

Prizes include P100,000 each for two national grand prize winners, and Samsung PCs and MP3 Players for the eight (8) regional winners, with 25” Samsung Flat TVs for their schools. The private sector has been invited by the Foundation to participate in this undertaking. Its major partner is Samsung Electronics Philippines while Nestle Philippines continues to help promote the competition. This year’s partnerships have been enriched by Knowledge Channel, National Bookstores and Anvil Publishing Inc. Shoemart will again host the “Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition @ SM” travelling exhibit in its super malls nationwide from February to July. The exhibit presents the winning works of past RMSEC grand prize winners and an introduction on the Ramon Magsaysay Awardees. Robinsons Malls will continue to help publicize RMSEC by displaying competition posters nationwide, and RMSEC posters will also be up on LRT stations and MRT trains.

INTEL Teach, a collaborative training program spearheaded by INTEL Philippines and the Department of Education (DEPED), will include the 4th RMSEC in its program this year. RMAF also will coordinate with the networks of DEPED’s National Schools Press Conference (NSPC), the National Youth Commission (NYC), the Ayala Young Leaders’ Conference (AYLC), and the UNESCO Youth Clubs / Associated Schools Project network (ASPs). The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and other educational organizations are invited to ensure wide participation: the Coordinating Council of Private Educations Associations (COCOPEA) and its affiliates, the Philippine Association of State Universities & Colleges (PASUC), the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), the Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities (ACSCU), the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), the Council of Department Chairpersons in English (CDCE)and College English Teachers Association (CETA). All remind high school and college students to join!



Foundation Contacts:
Lourdes K. Mercado-Balbin, Communications Officer
Sandy de la Cruz, Communications Assistant
Telephones: 52103166 to 81 Locals 161, 180, 184
TeleFax: 524-2390

RULES FOR THE COMPETITION:

There are two levels of competition: Collegiate and High School, open to all bonafide Asian students in the Philippines.


The essay, on the theme "Inspiring Me to Make a Difference: Personal Lessons from a Magsaysay Awardee," must be written in English, typewritten or computer-typed, double-spaced on 8.5” x 11” bond paper with one-inch margins on all sides. If computer-typed, use 12 pt. Times New Roman or Book Antiqua. No name or any identifying marks must be written in any of the submitted essays.


All essays must be between two (2) and four (4) pages, thus about 500-1,000 words, in length. Each essay may have its own title. Submit five copies of the essay in one manila (brown) envelope. Photocopies will be accepted. All entries must be accompanied by a fully accomplished entry form which is available from your school, from the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, and the RMAF website, www.rmaf.org.ph. Only one entry form per contestant is allowed. Entry forms may be reproduced.


Only original and unpublished work may be entered. Essays which have won in previous contests may not be entered. All entries shall become and remain the property of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.


First and second-degree relatives of employees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation are disqualified from joining.


Deadline for submitting entries is on 30 July 2005, the same date for receiving mailed entries.


There are two streams of judging: regional and national. Entries are classified into geographical clusters (Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao). At this first stage of elimination, the Regional Boards of Judges select three essays each for the high school and college levels per region. From this selection, the National Board of Judges will choose the eight regional finalists - four high school; four college –each to win a Samsung PC and MP3 player; their schools to receive 25” Samsung Flat TVs. From this roster will emerge the grand prize winners, one for each level.


The two national winners will each win P100,000 from the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. They will be announced at the awarding ceremonies in August, during the Magsaysay Festival Month, at the Ramon Magsaysay Center, Roxas Boulevard, Manila.
PRIZES AT STAKE


Prizes include P100,000 each for two national grand prize winners, and Samsung PCs and MP3 Players for the eight (8) regional winners, with 25” Samsung Flat TVs for their schools. The private sector has been invited by the Foundation to participate in this undertaking. Its major partner is Samsung Electronics Philippines while Nestle Philippines continues to help promote the competition. This year’s partnerships have been enriched by Knowledge Channel, National Bookstores and Anvil Publishing Inc. Shoemart will again host the “Ramon Magsaysay Student Essay Competition @ SM” travelling exhibit in its super malls nationwide from February to July. The exhibit presents the winning works of past RMSEC grand prize winners and an introduction on the Ramon Magsaysay Awardees. Robinsons Malls will continue to help publicize RMSEC by displaying competition posters nationwide, and RMSEC posters will also be up on LRT stations and MRT trains.