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The first portal design competition for public youth services in Hong Kong has met with a great response, and the winning entries on display show a wealth of innovation and creativity.
Awarded prizes at a ceremony at the Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Museum of History today (July 5), the champions, aged 15 to 24, are:
* (Open Category) Yiu Wa Sing, Yu Yiu Kwan, Kwong Po Shing and Li Tak Yin
* (Secondary School Category) James Li and Wong Siu Wai who are F.4 students of Aberdeen Technical School
Organised by the Efficiency Unit of the Chief Secretary for Administration's Office, the competition aimed to enrich the understanding of youth-related services provided by the Government and government-funded organisations, and to invite innovation and creativity from young people. It ran from March to June.
"The Efficiency Unit has developed a people-based services programme that aims to enhance the quality of access to Hong Kong's public services as well as improve people's experiences in interacting with the Government," an Efficiency Unit spokesperson said. "The development of a one-stop youth portal is a major initiative of this programme."
The concept and design of the winning entries will be adopted as far as is practically possible. It is expected that the first phase of the one-stop youth portal will be in operation next year.
Its content will cover a wide spectrum of public youth services, including education, career and employment, health, leisure, public facilities, sports, financial assistance, social work, civic education and youth development.
"We were impressed by the creativity of Hong Kong youngsters. Their designs have given us a lot of inspiration for our youth portal development," the spokesperson added.
To encourage wider participation in the event, members of the public were invited to vote online for their favourite entries. More than 1,000 responses were recorded.
Officiating guests were Chairman of Education Commission, Dr Rosanna Wong; Chairman of Commission on Youth, Dr Philemon Choi Yuen-wan; Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mrs Betty Fung, and Head, Efficiency Unit, Ms Kitty Choi.
The champion teams of the open and secondary school categories will embark on a sponsored trip during the summer to visit Cisco Systems' Headquarters in Silicon Valley, California, and Microsoft's Research Institute in Beijing, respectively. Prizes for other winners include pocket and notebook personal computers sponsored by PCCW and Hewlett Packard.
Ends/Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:23
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