“WE LOVE OUR PLANET” STORYTELLING CONTEST 2025
Themed “Save Our Forests!”, this year’s edition of CDL’s “We Love Our Planet” Storytelling Contest edition continues to encourage family bonding through storytelling and home video production, while aiming to unearth young eco champions and their families to develop their love of nature and to take action to protect our planet.
To view last year’s winning submissions, click here.
Contest Format
- In celebration of World Environment Day on 5 June, contestants are required to choose and tell a story relevant to the theme “Save Our Forests!”
- Contestants can adapt their stories from existing book titles or create original storylines.
- At the beginning of the storytelling, contestants are to introduce the book title and author that they are using for storytelling. If the storyline is original, this should be mentioned at the beginning of the story.
- At the end of the storytelling, contestants are required to share a statement, roughly about a minute, on the lessons that they have learned from the story, as well as aspirations to help conserve the planet.
- To participate, the contestants will film their storytelling performances and submit their video links on Google Forms.
- The video should not exceed 5 minutes.
- The video should be in landscape format.
- Voice over is not preferred. The video should show the participant narrating.
- Video editing is welcome but not a must.
- Contestants under Preschool category can take part as an individual, or with the support from one immediate family member (e.g. parent, older sibling).
- Deadline for submissions is Sunday, 20 July 2025, 2359 hrs.
- Top finalists will be invited to present their storytelling in-person at our Singapore Sustainability Academy to a panel of judges on Saturday, 23 August 2025.
- Videos with the most inspiring comments on lessons learned from the stories and aspirations to protect the planet would also be featured in a short video. The video and announcement of top winners will be shared on social media and on the organisers’ webpages on Friday, 5 September, on World Amazon Day.
Contest Categories
| INDIVIDUAL – Preschool (support from one family member (e.g. parent, older sibling) is allowed) |
3 to 6 years old |
| INDIVIDUAL – Lower Primary | P1 to P3 (or equivalent) |
| INDIVIDUAL – Upper Primary | P4 to P6 (or equivalent) |
| FAMILY – Collaboration between at least two family members, one of which must be a child, from the same household – Contribution should be split relatively equally |
No age restriction |
| ALUMNI – Returning winners from past years to participate in this category |
No age restriction |
Prizes
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Consolation (4th and 5th) |
|
| Preschool | $600 | $300 | $200 | $100 |
| Lower Primary | $600 | $300 | $200 | $100 |
| Upper Primary | $600 | $300 | $200 | $100 |
| Family Team | $600 | $300 | $200 | $100 |
| Alumni | $600 | $300 | $200 | $100 |
Note: Prize money will be City Developments Limited vouchers
Scoring Criteria
Please slide left to view more.
| Storytelling Performance Note: video editing is welcome but not a must |
Eco Aspiration Note: Must be one-minute long |
Relevance of story to theme | BONUS POINTS (5 points) |
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Performs beyond expectations (as compared to his or her peers) |
|
| Individual-Preschool | 50% | 40% | 10% | |
| Individual-Lower primary | 50% | 40% | 10% | |
| Individual-Upper primary | 50% | 40% | 10% | |
| Family | 50% | 40% | 10% |
Rules and Regulations
1. Contest is open to all Singaporeans, PRs, as well as expatriate families living in Singapore.
2. Each contestant can only submit one entry. However, families may submit more than one entry in different categories with different stories.
a. For example: Mr Lee (Father), Mrs Lee (Mother), James (14-year-old son), Angeline (4-year-old daughter), Mabel (1-year-old baby) participate under the Family category and present Story A. Mrs Lee and Angeline can also participate under Preschool category and present Story B.
3. Returning winners from past years who would like to participate must submit their entries under the Alumni Category.
4. The video must be in landscape format.
5. Voice over is not preferred. The video must show the participant narrating the story.
6. Marks will be deducted for regulations not followed.
7. Deadline for submissions is Sunday, 20 July 2025, 2359 hrs.
8. The organisers will only reach out to the finalists via email.
9. Top finalists will be selected to proceed to the next round, in which they will give an in-person presentation at the Singapore Sustainability Academy on Saturday, 23 August 2025.
10. Contestants acknowledge that by participating in the contest:
a. The submitted video entries may be used by the organisers for education and publicity purposes.
b. If they are selected to proceed to the finalist round, it is mandatory attend the final judging session in-person on Saturday, 23 Aug 2025.
c. If they are selected to proceed to the finalist round, their physical presentations may be recorded and used by the organisers for education and publicity purposes.
11. Winning entries will also be announced and shared in early September on the organisers’ social media platforms, and CDL Sustainability website.
FAQs
1. Can I create my own story?
Ans: Yes, you are welcome to create your own story. You can also incorporate parts from an existing story into your own.
2. If I am reading from a book, must I show it throughout the video clip?
Ans: You can show your book at the beginning like a show-and-tell. If it is an original or adapted story, you can state that before telling the story.
3. Must I read aloud the entire story in the book?
Ans: You can read selected extracts from the book, similar to what Sieu Pin did during his storytelling demonstration in Storytime@My Tree House. However, it would be useful to provide a background of the story so that the audience is able to follow your storytelling.
4. Do I have to read from a book, or can I read from an electronic device?
Ans: Yes, you can read from an electronic device if you wish. But remember to engage your audience when reading aloud the story.
5. Can I submit more than one entry?
Ans: Each contestant is allowed to submit one entry per category.
6. Must I present the book title, author and the publisher before reading the story?
Ans: It is a good practice to do that as part of your introduction.
7. What are the copyright considerations when reading from a book?
Ans: It is fine to record one’s storytelling of a book for personal use. However, there may be copyright considerations if the consent of the publisher is not sought and one publicises it on public platforms, such as social media. As the video clip is sent to CDL and the judges for judging, it is not considered as publicising on a public platform.
8. Can you provide any examples that we can use as a guide as how the contest wants the storytelling to be presented?
Ans: Since we want you and your family to use your imagination and get as creative as possible with your submission, we’re shying away from providing any sort of “examples” to ensure that people will not fall into the trap of aligning their submission with the provided example. There is no perfect answer to this contest, any and all types of videos will be welcomed with open arms!
9. Does my child have to be speaking the entire time or can I chime in and help? What is a good balance?
Ans: You can definitely participate, but your child should leading the video for the majority of the time. A 90%:10% balance would suffice.
10. If we upload our submission and decide to give it another go, can we re-submit?
Ans: As long as you submit your new video with the name “VERSION 2” at the end, and let us know via email that you’ve submitted twice, you should be good to go!
11. How long should my video be?
Ans: There is no minimum requirement for the video length, but it should not exceed 5 minutes, where possible.
If you have other queries about the contest, please email [email protected]. We will try our best to respond to you as soon as possible.
How to Upload Submission
- WeTransfer
- Visit WeTransfer.com for a free service that allows you to send up to 2GB worth of information (you do not need to create an account).
- It is a simple process that allows you to select the files you want to send, input the email address of the person you wish to send it to, input your own email and a brief message.
- For more information on how to use WeTransfer, go to this webpage.
- DropBox
- Create a DropBox account if you do not already have one on DropBox.com.
- Click Files in the left column, hover over the file you’d like to share, click Share, type the Email of the person you’d like to share with, click Share.
- For more information on how to use DropBox, go to this webpage.
- GoogleDrive
- Create a Gmail account if you do not already have one on Gmail.com.
- For information on how to email a video file using GoogleDrive, go to this webpage.
- Once you have uploaded the file, in the top right corner, click “Share”. Click “Get shareable link” in the top right of the “Share with others” box. To choose whether a person can view, comment, or edit the file, click the Down arrow next to “Anyone with the link.”