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This year is the 15th Anniversary of the Venerable Hua’s Nirvana. In remembering the Venerable Master’s kindness and virtue, the Chinese Departments of DVS and IGS are organizing three special activities:
1. Essay Writing Contest: Divided into Chinese and English teams. Please see the Contest Rules below for more details.
2. Venerable Master Hua’s Life Events Contest: Please see the Contest Rules below for more details.
3. Sutra Memorization: We welcome young students to sign up and participate. This will be performed in between the contests.
We strongly encourage all branch monasteries and their associated followers to sign up for this event. If there is any question, please send an e-mail to zhengwen@drba.org or inquire at http://www.drbachinese.org
Regards, Chinese Departments of DVS/IGS
Essay Writing Contest for the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Venerable Master Hua’s Nirvana
Main Objective: For the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Venerable Master Hua’s Nirvana, we have a series of activities to remember and reflect on the past as well as look towards the future. We have decided to organize an essay writing contest as part of this year's activities in order to reach more people and influence them at a deeper level.
Essay Topic: You can select your own topic but the content must be related to the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, his influence on you, his Dharma propagation, translation, education, interfaith dialogues and so on. We encourage people to submit their articles for the contest.
Languages: The essay can be written in either Chinese or English.
4. Participant Qualifications: Anyone who is sincere may participate. There are no restrictions concerning nationality, religious affiliation, ethnicity, and so on. In order to ensure fairness, contestants will be divided into the following competing categories:
Category A: Includes all adults and college students.
Category B: Includes high school students. (9-12th graders)
Category C: Includes middle school students (8th graders and below)
5. Essay Word Limit:
Category A: 1200-2400 words.
Category B: 600-1200 words.
Category C: 400-800 words.6. Grading Rubric: Content: 60%; Rhetoric: 15%; Grammar: 15%; Paragraphing: 10%
7. Awards and Recognition: 1 Bodhi Award, 1 Compassion Award, 1 Happy-Giving Award, and several Lotus Awards, etc.
8. Copyright: Essays that are awarded will be published in the Vajra Bodhi Sea monthly magazine and the DRBA websites and publications. Contest organizers will retain the copyright of the essay.
9. Essay Deadline: May 31, 2010
10. Entry Submissions: Address: 4951 Bodhi Way, Ukiah, CA 95482 USA
DVBS DVBS Chinese Department.E-Mail Address: zhengwen@drba.org
11. Winner Announcements: Contest results will be posted online in the DRBA website by June 15, 2010. Each winner will also be informed.
12. Awarding Date: Prizes will be given on June 20, 2010 at CTTB. (International or other long-distance winners may have another person receive their prize).
Venerable Master’s Life Events Contest
1. Main Objective: This year is the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Venerable Master Hua’s Nirvana. We have organized the “Venerable Master’s Life Events” as part of this year’s activities to remember the Venerable Master’s virtue and kindness and deeply understand his life-long exemplary conduct and practices.
2. Contest Method: Participants will compete individually to answer before teaming up with others (see detailed contest rules). The contest will be separated into three rounds: 1 st, 2nd, and 3rd. The first four placing will receive awards. Other participants will be given a certificate of appreciation.
3. Contest Language: Mandarin Chinese . During the contest, the question will be displayed in English on the screen so that those who do not understand Chinese will also know the question being asked.
4. Contest Topics: CTTB will provide information on the Venerable Master’s Life Events “White Mountain and Black Water Nurtured an Outstanding Man” (published by DRBA) and his biography as the scope for the subjects and topics of this contest.
5. Participant’s Qualifications: CTTB residents, school teachers, parents, students, and followers in DRBA’s branch monasteries can participate as teams in this contest. Each team will consist of 3 participants who can choose their own team members. We especially welcome family teams, teacher-student teams as well as any individuals to sign up for this event. We can also help organize the teams.
6. Location of the Contest: Dao Yuan Hall in the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Talmage, California, USA.
Date of Competition: June 20, 2010
7. Registration Deadline: May 31, 2010
8. Registration Method: when application has been completed, e-mail to zhengwen @drba.org
Contest Rules
1. Contestants will compete to answer by pressing a buzzer. A contestant who gives a correct answer will be awarded 10 points, an incorrect answer will result in a 5-point deduction, and failure to answer within 5 seconds of pressing the buzzer will also result in a 5-point deduction.
2. To start, each team is given 20 points at the beginning.
3. There are 40 questions in each round.
4. Team members will take turn answering the first 30 questions individually. 3 participants will take turn to answer the question. Teammates cannot help or consult one another when answering questions or else the answer will be considered wrong. A team will answer the last 10 questions. All of the 3 team members are able to answer. However, only one participant may represent the team to give the answer. If two members give two different answers, the answer will be considered wrong.
5. The questions will be separated into free response questions and multiple-choice questions. Answers to the free response questions must include the entire answer to all parts of the questions, or it will be considered wrong. Questions to the multiple-choice questions must include the number of the answer selection. Answers given without its number will be considered wrong, even if the answer is correct.
6. The first question for each round will be a warm-up question to familiarize the students with the format. No points will be awarded or deducted for these questions.
7. If a team or team member has not shown up before the end of the warm-up question, they will lose eligibility to compete.
8. If no team attempts to answer within ten seconds after the question has been read, the judge will give the answer to the question, and the contest will continue with the next question, with the question-reader determining the next question topic.
9. Any team that presses the buzzer must wait until the judge says, “Team XX, please give your answer” before answering, and must answer within 5 seconds.
10. Every team only has one chance to answer each question. If a team answers incorrectly, the other teams must wait until the judge says, “Answer Incorrect!” before pressing their buzzers.
11. Contestants may press their buzzers before the question has been completely read out, at which point the question reader will stop reading. If a team answers incorrectly, the question reader will re-read the question.
12. If at the end of a round, there are teams with equal points, tie-breaker questions will be read out until the tie is broken. (Only teams that result in a tie are allowed to answer).
13. The judge's decision is final and must be respected.
14. If there is any problem regarding the rules, contest organizers will address them in a meeting before the contest.