This competition, co-organised by the Hong Kong Statistical Society and the Education Bureau (sponsored by the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, the University of Hong Kong), aims to raise the interest of secondary school students in statistics and its application; and to encourage them to creatively express in words the daily application of statistical concepts or put statistical concepts into a story in a scientific and objective manner.  All award-winning entries will be printed in the publication issued by the organisers.

All local students attending Secondary 3 or above are eligible to participate in the competition.  They may participate in the competition as individual contestants or as competing teams.  A participating team must consist of at most 3 members from the same school.  There is no restriction on the number of participant(s) and/or participating team(s) from each school.  Please refer to the poster of this competition and Rules and Regulations for details.

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1.  Eligibility of participants

• All local students attending Secondary 3 or above are eligible to participate in the competition.

• Participants must be nominated by the schools they attend.  They may participate in the competition as individual contestants or as competing teams, with pen names or team names.  A participating team must consist of at most 3 members from the same school.

• There is no restriction on the number of participant(s) and/or participating team(s) from each school.  A supervising teacher should be appointed by the participating school for giving advice to the participating teams, ensuring the guidelines of the competition are being followed, and acting as the contact persons and the coordinators of the schools.

2.  Format and requirement of submitted entries

• The entry should be mainly in words (Chinese or English), supplemented by graphics or drawings if appropriate.  Formal language should be used for Chinese entries for easy reading.  The entries should use daily examples or stories to illustrate, in words or diagrams, the statistics-related concepts in an interesting way.  Please refer to the relevant samples for more details.

• Any one participant or participating team can submit one entry only.

• The entries should be submitted in paper format, typewritten or handwritten in blue or black ink for assessment.  The number of words is restricted to  1 000 – 2 000 (including punctuations for Chinese entries).  The title and the number of words should be shown on the entry.  The names of the participants and the schools they attend, as well as the pen names/team names should also be indicated. 

• If the participants are unable to type mathematical symbols in electronic files, they may handwrite them in the printed entries.

3. The contents of the submitted entries should explain any concepts of probability or statistics learnt from schools or books.  Common concepts include:

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1. Those intending to participate in the competition should be nominated by schools.  The nomination form can be downloaded here.

2. The deadline of school nomination is 30 June 2009 (Tuesday), based on the postmark date if submitted by post.  The supervising teachers should submit the completed nomination forms by fax (Fax No.: 2127 4698), by post or by hand to the following address.

3. All participants should deliver their submitted entries by post or by hand on or before 18 September 2009 (Friday) (based on postmark date if submitted by post) through their supervising teachers to the following address.

Please mark “Statistics Creative-Writing Competition for Secondary School Students 2009” on the envelope.

4. To enable participants to better understand details of the competition, a briefing seminar was conducted on 16 May 2009 (Saturday) at Chiang Chen Studio Theatre in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 

• Introduction of the Competition

• Rules and regulations, adjudication process

• Sample writings

  • 抽樣調查的陷阱

  • 奧運與概率

  • 主場之利

  • 哪一科老師較易在最受歡迎老師選舉中獲勝？

  • Game of Chance

  • 誰先發球有分別嗎？

  • 統計學與投資︰問世間，風險為何物﹖

• Reference for resources

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1.  The submitted entries will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria ():

Content (70%)

• Ability to arouse interest of the readers (10%)

• Innovative ideas, not typical book examples (10%)

• Message delivered
  - Core message of the statistical concepts clearly presented (10%)
  - Inference simple and concise (10%)

• Explanation of statistical concepts

• Accurate, careful and profound discussion of specific statistical concepts/methods, e.g. reasonable assumptions, correct application of statistical concepts/methods such as hypothesis testing, statistical modeling, the use of parameters, logical conclusion, and limitation of the analysis, etc (10%)

• Explanation inspiring to the readers in statistical concepts/methods, e.g. correct method of sample selection, and awareness of misleading analytical results, instead of focusing on mere computation or presentation of figures for particular scenarios (10%)

• Discussion of wide application of statistical concepts/methods (10%)

Presentation (30%)

• Creativity and interest
  - Presentation of statistical concepts in an innovative and lively way, e.g. technique of asking rhetorical questions, use of graphics or tables (10%)

• Presentation skills
  - Easy-to-understand presentation, e.g. clear explanation of statistical terminologies and brief illustration of statistical methods being used, which can be easily followed by general readers (10%)
  - Clear flow and structure of the essay/story (5%)
  - Clear presentation of content, correct grammar, fluent language/good drawings (5%)

2.  The adjudication panel will comprise professionals working in the educational and statistical field.

3.  The adjudication will comprise two stages.  Firstly, the adjudicators will examine each entry according to the above mentioned criteria.  A number of entries will be shortlisted for the second stage.  At the second stage, participants of shortlisted entries will be invited to attend an interview and make a presentation of their entries.  After the assessment by the adjudicators, the winning entries will be chosen.

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1. Champion and runner-ups:  Book coupons of HK$1,200, HK$800, HK$500 and HK$300 will be awarded to the champion, the first, second and third runner-ups respectively.  A certificate of merit and a medal will also be awarded to each winning participant.  Corresponding schools will each be presented a crystal medal.

2. Distinguished prizes:  The number of distinguished prizes will depend on the quality of the submitted entries.  A book coupon of HK$200 and certificate(s) of merit will be awarded to each winning team.

3. Distinguished school prize:  School with the highest number of prizes will be awarded a special medal.

1. The shortlist results will be announced on 13 November 2009 (Friday) on the website of the Hong Kong Statistical Society (Please click here for the shortlisted entries).  The participants of the shortlisted entries will also be informed via their schools.

2. Participants of shortlisted entries will be invited to attend an interview held on 28 Novermber 2009 (Saturday) and make a presentation of their entries.  After the assessment by the adjudicators, the champion, the runner-ups and the distinguished participants will be chosen.

3. The prize presentation ceremony will be held on 12 December 2009 (Saturday) at Rayson Huang Theatre, the University of Hong Kong.  The details will be announced on the Hong Kong Statistical Society (http://www.hkss.org.hk).

4. The school principals, supervising teachers and parents of all award winners will be invited to attend the prize presentation ceremony.  All award winners must attend the ceremony.  If the award winners cannot attend the ceremony, they should send representatives to receive the prizes on their behalf. For the list of winning projects, please click here.

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For any enquiries, please contact Mr Daniel CHAN Kin-leung (Tel: 2582 4927) or Mr CHAN Sau-tang (Tel: 2153 7465).

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1. The entries must represent the original work of the participating teams (Acknowledgements should be stated in the footnotes or list of references if any materials from other writers are used).  The same entries cannot be submitted twice.  Supervising teachers may give guidance and advice for reference, but they should not participate in the actual editing or preparation work.

2. All submitted entries will not be returned.   The copyrights of the entries (of all forms) belong to the organisers, and the entries will be published in teaching kits for use by teachers and parents.  The organisers reserve the right to amend the submitted entries in full or in part, and to publicise, exhibit, copy, re-disseminate, or make use of them in other purposes in any form without the consent of the participants and schools or the payment of fees of any kind.

3. All participants, whose entries are submitted to or disseminated in any forms in the press, internet, other competitions and so on before the announcement of results, will be disqualified.

4.  The organisers will not be responsible for any loss, delay or wrong relay of the entries.

5. The organisers have the rights to request the award winners to submit proof of their year of study and schools attended.

6. The entries should not contain any contents of indecency, foul language, violence or obscenity.

7. The organisers reserve the right to interpret and amend the rules and regulations of the competition without prior notice.  The results of the competition are subject to the final decision of the adjudication panel.  No objection from the participants may be entertained.

8. Plagiarism and infringement of copyrights and legislation, if verified in the submitted entries, will trigger disqualification during submission and adjudication.  If the above is/are found after prize presentation, the participants will be disqualified and the awarded prizes in the form of medals, certificates, book coupons, etc. will be revoked.  The participating teams should bear the legal liability for their own work, which is under no circumstances the responsibility of the organisers.

9. Upon submission of entries, the participants agree to abide by the terms and rules, release to the organisers, unconditionally, any legal liability for publishing their works submitted, and undertake all compensation to the organisers any loss caused by breaching of rules in their parts.  Participants breaching the rules will be disqualified.

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(1)    David Salsburg (2001).  The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century.  W.H. Freeman & Company.

(2)    蕭文強、林建（2007）。概率萬花筒。香港統計學會。

(3)   盧嘉錫（2007）。十萬個為甚麼–數學篇II。商務印書館（香港）有限公司。

(4)    Darrell Huff & Irving Geis (1993).  How to lie with Statistics.  W.W. Norton & Company.

(5)    鄭惟厚（2007）。你不能不懂的統計常識。天下文化。

(6)    Michael Blastland & Andrew Dilnot (2007).  The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing Through A World of Numbers.  Profile.

(7)   David S. Moore (1996).  Statistics: Concepts and Controversies.  W.H.Freeman & Company.

(8)    Gerald Everett Jones (2001).  How to Lie With Charts.  iUniverse.

(9)    Woollcott Smith & Larry Gonick (1993).  Cartoon Guide to Statistics.  Collins.

(10) C. Radhakrishna Rao (1997).  Statistics and Truth: Putting Chance to Work.  World Scientific Publishing Company.

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This page is updated in December, 2009