ARE you one of the youths concerned about more and more teenagers or young adults getting depressed and anxious?
The rise in youth depression is not a subject to be taken lightly.
For this reason, the Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) is providing youth a platform to express their opinions via a writing contest.
State Youth and Sports Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee said PYDC is presenting the second round of the Column Writing competition with “Youth For Future: Fight Against Depression” as its theme.
He said it would be held from today until Oct 20 this year in view of the ‘World Suicide Prevention Month’ this month.
“Through this competition, we allow youth, aged between 15 and 30, to voice their views on the current issues and express their thoughts through writing.
“The article should not be more than 300 words and the participants must send their articles in a Google form through PDF and Microsoft Word format.
“They need to use double spacing and Arial-12 format while their articles must not contain any sensitive or negative elements. The organiser has the right to reject articles by participants who do not follow terms and conditions.
“The competition is free and is open to four languages – Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. There is no limit to the number of participants.
“We encourage all the youth to take part in this competition,” he told a press conference in Komtar today.
The best three winners in each category will be awarded RM200 each.
For more information, log on to PYDC Facebook page or email to [email protected]
At the same press conference, Soon said PYDC would collaborate with some 20 higher learning institutions in Penang to carry out programmes that would increase students’ knowledge.
He said the programmes are related to soft skills, technical, community works, motivation camps and leadership.
“We believe the state’s initiative will benefit the students. Experts from various industries are also invited to share their knowledge with the students.
“We hope other institutions in Penang will contact PYDC if they are keen to collaborate,” he said, adding that the launching of the Penang Higher Learning Institution Student Enrichment Programme was held recently.
For more information contact PYDC executive officer Ryan Joseph at 016-4281040 or at [email protected]
Also present were PYDC directors Joseph Ng Soon Siang, who is also the Air Itam assemblyman, and S. Bharathi, who is also the Chief Minister Incorporated (CMI) deputy general manager, and PYDC general manager Dr Gwee Sai Ling.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Ahmad Adil Muhamad