FINCO Reads: Outstanding Student Competition 2024

Theme: Twist the Tale

Are you a primary or secondary school student in a government school? Do you love reading?

If you do, here is an opportunity for you to exercise your critical thinking, creativity, and storytelling skills in English!

All you need to do is choose a fictional book, put your own unique twist on the story, and record a video of yourself presenting the new story.

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Submit Your Entry Online

Click here to submit your entry.

Submit Your Entry Offline

To submit your entry offline, download the entry form and send your completed entry to [email protected], with the subject title: “Name_Category_School Name”.

Download the offline entry form here.

Stay tuned for the winners announcement on 10 Oct 2024!

Follow FINCO’s social media platforms to receive the latest updates.

Categories

The competition is open to primary or secondary school students in government schools only.

Category A

Years 1 to 6

Primary School
Students

Category B

Forms 1 to 3

Lower Secondary School Students

Category C

Forms 4 to 5

Upper Secondary School Students

Prizes

Each category will have a winner and a runner-up, selected based on judging criteria. The top 5 finalists’ submissions will also be uploaded on FINCO’s social media platforms to stand a chance to win the Popular Pick Award.

Top five (5) finalists in each category will receive an e-certificate from FINCO.

1 Winner

RM500 Cash
& Certificate

1 Runner-up

RM250 Cash
& Certificate

1 Popular Pick Award Winner

RM250 Cash & Certificate

Guidelines

FINCO Reads: Outstanding Student Competition 2023 with the theme of “Twist the Tale” is a fun and engaging competition where students can make a short video telling us about a twist they have made to one of their favourite books.

How can you participate?

Step 1: Choose a Story

It must be fiction.

Step 2: Create Your Twist

  • Read your chosen story thoroughly.
  • Understand the key events, characters and settings.
  • Decide which part of the story you want to change.
  • You can twist anything in the story! From the characters, the plots to the setting!
  • Think about how you can make the story even better.

Examples:

  • Character Twist: Little Red Riding Hood
    • Original: Little Red Riding Hood is an innocent girl, and the Wolf is the predator.
    • Twist: What if Little Red Riding Hood was actually a clever witch and the Wolf was the one in danger?
  • Plot Twist: Matilda
    • Original: Matilda is a girl with telekinetic powers, mistreated by her parents.
    • Twist: What if Matilda’s parents were actually undercover agents trying to protect her from a hidden danger?
  • Setting Twist: Jack and the Beanstalk
    • Original: Jack climbs a beanstalk to a giant’s castle in the clouds.
    • Twist: What if the beanstalk led to a futuristic world instead of a giant’s castle?

Disclaimer: These examples are provided to inspire creativity and are not meant to be copied. Please come up with your own unique twists!

Step 3: Prepare and Record Your Presentation

  • Write a script that explains your story choice, and tells us the new version of the story.
  • Use the following steps as a guide;
    • Introduce yourself
    • Name of the story
    • Tell us the new version of the story (keep it short and sweet!)
  • Record your presentation. Ensure that your recording area is well-lit, use English and speak confidently. !
  • Your video presentation should not be more than  1 minute and 30 seconds.
  • Save your video. Name your file like this:: Name_Category_School Name  (eg: Farah Khadijah_Category B_ SK FINCO)

Step 4: Submit Your Entry Form

  • Ask a parent or guardian for permission to enter.
  • Submit your entry by filling in the Entry Form and uploading your video. If you can’t upload your entry, you can email it to us.

Some Useful Tips

  1. Select a story that is well known. (Read the story thoroughly and understand the key events, characters, and settings)
  2. Decide the Twist you want to introduce – character, plot or setting.
  3. Summarise your story with the new twist – just focus on the key events as you don’t have time to go into too much detail.
  4. Plan your video recording (How will your video stand out? Who will film you and where? How will you attract your viewers?)
  5. Edit your video if necessary.
  6. Do NOT speak longer than 1 minute 30 seconds or you will lose marks. (don’t give long introductions)
  7. Save your video. Name your file like this: Name_Category_School Name (eg: Farah Khadijah_Category B_ SK FINCO)

What happens after you submit your entry?

Top 5 submissions for each category will be shortlisted.

1 Oct- 8 Oct : Final Presentation

  1. The finalists will present their new story to the judges through a storytelling presentation as well as answer some of their questions.
  2. The judges will review all presentations and select the winners based on the judging criteria.

1 - 8 Oct: Online Voting

  1. The finalists’ submissions will also be featured on FINCO’s social media platforms for the Popular Twist Award. Parents must agree to this in the entry form. 
  2. The Popular Twist Award will be selected through a voting process through social media platforms where the members of the public can vote for their favourite video. The submission with the highest number of online votes will be the winner of the award.

10 Oct : Winner Announcement

Winners will be announced! Follow FINCO’s social media platforms to stay updated.

What are the judges looking for?

Creativity and Originality

Your twist is original, unique and imaginative, offering a fresh perspective or an unexpected change to the original story.

Clarity and Delivery

Your storytelling is engaging, with well-organised content, clear speech, and confident delivery to capture the audience’s attention.

Style

Your presentation is creative, and you use relevant techniques to highlight your main points.

  1. Only primary or secondary students from government schools in Malaysia are eligible to participate in this competition. Participants who do not meet these criteria will be disqualified.
  2. Entries must be submitted in English and must be the original work of the student.
  3. Incomplete submissions will automatically be disqualified.
  4. Explicit content is strictly prohibited in the submission.
  5. Parental/Guardian Consent: If you are a student under the age of 18 or submitting on their behalf and are not their parent or guardian, before submitting an entry please ensure you have a parent or guardian’s permission to participate and their agreement to the following terms:
    • By entering this competition, you agree to give FINCO your permission to publish any materials for promotional or educational purposes on their online platforms.
    • The publication will take place on the FINCO website, on Facebook and Instagram and it can be used for public relations purposes. In addition, you assure us that you own the rights to the text, photos and videos that you grant us the right to use them. We assume no responsibility for the contents of the individual contributions.
  6. Use and Disclosure of Personal Data and Purpose Specification: FINCO will keep confidential all personal information collected through this competition. We may however disclose such information to the following parties in the course of using the information for the reason it was collected:
    • A person or company acting on behalf of FINCO;
    • Any other person or company who has undertaken to keep such information confidential, provided they have a right to such information.
  7. Data Retention: We will keep any personal information you give us as long as there is a reason to do so, for instance to satisfy the law or regulations, or to protect our interests. If not, then we will destroy it by purging it from our electronic, manual, and other filing systems according to our internal procedures and schedules.