2024 "Why Learn Chinese" Competition

---

On November 16, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration launched “Being Bilingual is a Superpower,” an initiative by the U.S. Department of Education to promote multilingual education and bolster high-quality language programs and a diverse multilingual educator workforce across the country. Inspired by this great news, the theme of our 2024 competition is "Chinese Is My Superpower." We expect to see students sharing how learning the Chinese language and culture has had a magical impact on their school and personal lives.

An essay/talent show video competition 

For all the middle school and high school students in the Pacific Northwest region 

Two ways to participate:

1. An essay of 400-800 words regarding this prompt:

"Chinese Is My Superpower!"

Calling all young superheroes to unleash their creativity in our exciting WLC competition! Explore the enchanting world of Chinese language and culture as you share how mastering Chinese language has transformed your life. Let your words paint a vivid picture of the superpower that is learning Chinese. Join us in celebrating the beauty, richness, and transformative power of language in this inspiring contest.

​OR

2. A cultural performance video of yourself or your group 

Essay

• Limit of 1 entry per contestant 
• The work should be completely original and presented in either English or Chinese.
• Contestants will be judged by certified teachers and professionals looking for superior ideas, stories, messages, and content.

Video

• Minimum length 1 min but should NOT exceed 4 minutes, in high-resolution, and recorded horizontally.
• All performance videos need to be appropriate in content and demonstrate talent in representing the Chinese language and culture. Performances may include but are not limited to, songs, rap, traditional musical instruments, folk dance, martial arts performances, folk art, poetry recitation, etc. Subtitles are not required but are recommended.
• Contestants will be judged by certified teachers and professionals looking for preparation, creativity, and quality.

Separate prizes for both categories
1st Place: $100 (1 winner)
2nd Place: $80 (3 winners)
3rd Place: $50 (5 winners)

Finalists (top 10%):
Certificate of Excellence

Timeline

After your submission, you will receive a confirmation email. We ask that you add president@whylearnlanguages.org to your trusted list of senders, contacts, or address book. If you do not see an email from president@whylearnlanguages.org in your Inbox, our email may have mistakenly been sent to your spam folder. Award ceremony video will be published on the YouTube channel of the "Why Learn Languages" organization by May 31st. We will announce the winners in the video.

We also offer an Outstanding Contribution Award to a teacher or an organization who has demonstrated dedication and support to the competition by encouraging the greatest number of participants. The award carries a cash prize of $100. Please make sure to include your teacher’s name on the registration form.  

SUBMISSIONS DUE April 30, 2024
Questions? president@whylearnlanguages.org

CLOSED

Option 1:

Fill out the registration form HERE and enter a shareable URL link that does not require judges to sign into. Save your file with the name WLC2024_Category plus your name (first name and last name). 

For example: WLC2024_Essay_Erika_Williams

You need a Gmail account to receive a confirmation email.

​

Option 2:

Upload your file to the registration form HERE with a Gmail account.​