The 8th edition of the CDL E-Generation Challenge 2017, in partnership with GGEF, is a youth-centric competition targeted to encourage and empower youths to come up with urgent solutions against climate change. Started in 2010, the Challenge was initially used to enable youths to learn about eco-tips through games in the Amazing Race format. It was revamped this year to put the spotlight on passionate youth environmental advocates. Participants were invited to write a 3,000 word essay with their proposed solutions for climate change. Ten finalists with an impressive track record and solutions were shortlisted. They ran a social media campaign to create awareness and garner support from the public, and presented their ideas to a prestigious judging panel.
The final judging was held at the Academy on 30 September. During the session, outstanding finalists give passionate presentations on their ideas to combat climate change, ranging from policy proposals to environmentally-themed arts festivals. They showcased their various talents in advocacy, events, videos, singing and music production and others. After much deliberation, a winner was selected to join Robert Swan for a 2-week expedition to Antarctica in March 2018. It is part of the Climate Force: Antarctica 2018 led by O.B.E Robert Swan, a renowned environmentalist and explorer who was the first man to walk to both North and South Poles.
Jessica Cheam, founder and Managing Editor of Eco-Business was the unanimous winner. Jessica is a well-established environmental journalist and advocate with extensive outreach to businesses and the public at large. Due to the high caliber of finalists, the judges also gave a Distinction Award to Inch Chua, a talented local singer-songwriter with a significant following in the arts communities. The award, generously co-sponsored by CDL and OCBC, will fund half her expedition cost. We believe that both winners will form a formidable force to promote solutions and expand awareness to combat climate change.
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Jessica Cheam
CDL E-Generation Challenge Winner 2017
Jessica Cheam is the Managing Editor of Eco-Business, an award-winning journalist, TV presenter, director, producer and a social entrepreneur.
She has more than a decade of experience in journalism with a particular expertise in sustainable development, and was formerly the political and environment correspondent for The Straits Times. She is an adjunct research associate for the Centre for Liveable Cities, a Singapore think tank focused on creating and sharing knowledge on liveable and sustainable cities. Jessica presented an episode on climate change in the Challenge Tomorrow documentary series by Channel NewsAsia which aired in March 2017 and she also directs and produces short documentaries.
She founded Eco-Business in 2009 with a vision to provide a platform for the region to discuss and advance sustainability issues. Under her leadership, Eco-Business beat other media giants to clinch the Lee Foundation Excellence in Environmental Reporting by a Media Organisation Merit Award at the Asian Environmental Journalism Awards (AEJA) 2013. In 2015, Jessica was given the AEJA’s Sustained Environmental Reporting by a Journalist Award for her efforts in contributing to environmental journalism over the last decade. She is also the published author of ‘Forging a Greener Tomorrow: Singapore’s journey from slum to eco-city’,
Follow Jessica’s journey through Antarctica through her blog, Changing Course.
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Inch Chua
CDL E-Generation Challenge Distinction Award 2017
Not afraid to venture into the discomforting umbra of the artistic unknown, Inch never fails to push her own limits and challenge popular perceptions; surprising people with her breadth of musicianship and depth of personality.
The Singapore-born, Fine Arts educated, Los Angeles/New York City inducted singer-songwriter was raised in a family of theatre practitioners, you could say, she was destined for the arts. A veteran stage performer in her own right — from major local events such as Baybeats, F1 Grand Prix, Youth Olympic Games to other lauded overseas festivals, like Beijing’s MIDI Music Festival, Incheon’s Asian Games, Western Australia Music Festival, SXSW Music Festival in Texas, CMJ Music Marathon in New York, TEDxWomen in Washington DC, etc — the self-professed nature girl has released 4 Singles, 3 EPs and 2 Full Length Albums in her 8 year long music career. Including the recent and critically acclaimed release, Letters To Ubin in 2015, inspired from her 4 month residency on a rural island, Pulau Ubin, discovering the provincial life.
Inch hope to make new music and create new works of art from her collective experiences and discoveries about Antarctica. Art that would deconstruct the mind, question hearts, dissect the soul, and inspire change.