Contest offers cash for good China stories

A new storytelling competition will offer prizes up to 20,000 yuan ($2,910) for good tales about China.

"The contest looks for talented storytellers and fascinating China stories that are attractive, and at the same time, easy to understand and share by foreign audiences," said Wang Guangyi, deputy director of China International Publishing Group, during the launch ceremony of the contest on Monday.

Online registration for the First International Contest for Creative Communication of China Story is open through March, and the stories need to be submitted from June 1 to 30.

Works in different forms are encouraged, including video, design, and virtual reality, but they should be submitted with a supplementary text of storyline between 3,000 to 5,000 words in Chinese or English.

The themes of the stories include Chinese Dream, people, culture and enterprise.

"We invite anybody who knows and loves China to tell their story of the country," said Chen Xianhong, the chief planner of the contest.

Submitted works will be reviewed by a jury of around 100 scholars and veterans of storytelling and communication, and winners will get prizes ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 yuan.

The launch event included a seminar on international communications. About 30 experts discussed how to tell good stories of China from the perspectives of theory and practice.

China International Publishing Group, Journalism and Information Communication School at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Chinese Association for History of Journalism and Mass Communication jointly organized the contest.

Liu Yixi contributed to this story.