Essay & Video Competitions: “Financing the Present, Preparing for the Future”

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) received a total of 100 student essays for the Budget 2009 Essay Competition and 10 entries for the Video Competition this year. The Competitions, organised by MOF in partnership with the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), the Straits Times (ST) and Channel NewsAsia (CNA), were open to all students studying in Singapore and Singaporeans studying abroad. The Essay Competition aimed to foster critical thinking and creative expression on public finance issues amongst Singapore’s youths, while the Video Competition provided youths with the opportunity to express their views using a different medium.

With a theme of “Financing the Present, Preparing for the Future”, the Essay Competition attracted entries covering a wide range of issues. The essays submitted were from a wide and diverse spectrum of students from both local and overseas institutions and provided an insight into the thoughts and aspirations of our country's youth on fiscal policy and public finance. On the same theme, the Video Competition drew entries from local schools, which captured the essence of what the Budget meant to our youth and how it has impacted them and their families - through creative portrayal ranging from news documentary to puppetry.

The organisers thank all participants for their insightful essays and videos and extend our heartiest congratulations to the following prize winners: