RESPONSIBLE YOUTH LEADER AWARDS 2021

INTRODUCTION

Responsible Youth Leader (RYL) Awards 2021 is organized by Sarawak Research Society (SRS), with the support from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC) Sarawak, Southeast Asia Research Academy (SEARA), Emerald Publishing, UCSI University and RCE Kuching. The awards are given to the candidates to recognize their exemplary contribution in tourism, arts or culture to the community concerned as responsible youth leaders and citizens.

Application of RYL Awards 2021 must be related to either one of the three categories in tourism, arts, or culture, which are explained as follows:

Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. Tourism includes domestic tourism (involving residents traveling within their own country), inbound tourism (involving foreigners traveling to your country), and outbound tourism (involving residents traveling to another country). It includes travel activities, hospitality services and destination management.
Art is a diverse range of human activities involving the creation of visual, auditory or performing artefacts (artworks) to express the imagination, concepts, or technical skills through their works. It includes visual production (painting, sculpture, and architecture), music, theatre, film, culinary, dance and literature. Art is an important component in a society and industry due to the rich meaning and purposeful message it delivers through artworks, performance/exhibition and festivals.
Culture is about a pattern of learnt and shared beliefs and behaviours of a particular ethnic or social group. There are two types of culture. First, the nonmaterial culture (symbolic culture) includes the values, beliefs, symbols, and languages which are manifested as their traditions and practices. Second, the material culture includes the physical objects, such as clothings, utensils and buildings, which are regarded as the heritage products. Culture is an essential part of human life and societal development. Museum and cultural village, for example, are places where cultural products are kept and preserved.

IMPORTANT DATES

Open for registration	: 5 April 2021
Deadline of application submission (Registration will close when 100 submissions are received)	: 31 October 2021
Announcement of the finalists	: 15 November 2021
Online interview of the finalists	: 22-28 November 2021
Award-giving ceremony	: 11 December 2021

PRIZES

Three RYL2021 candidates with the highest scores from each category (tourism, arts and culture) will be selected as the winners and receive:

E-certificate of recognition acknowledged by SRS, MTAC Sarawak and the partners
Prize money of USD200 for each winner (transaction fee will be deducted from the stipend)
Token in kind from the partners.

All candidates will receive e-certificates of participation. Additional prizes, such as “The Most Likes” and “The Special Pick”, will also be given out to candidates who join the award-giving ceremony. More information will be provided on the website and Facebook page.

REGISTRATION

(APPLICATION FORM)

This application form is divided into two sections: Candidate Profile and Leadership Assessment. Before filling in the application form, the candidates must read the terms and conditions carefully. The candidates are required to provide all the information and respond to all the questions in this form to the best of their ability. Incomplete form and inaccurate information will result in the application being rejected with immediate effect.

Completed application form should be saved in both Word and PDF format and submitted through https://forms.gle/49UDba1GAwudgdWj7 before 23 August 2021. Unless otherwise informed through the website and Facebook page, the registration will close before the submission deadline once one hundred (100) applications are received. Please feel free to email us at responsibleyouthleader@gmail.com for any queries about the awards or the terms and conditions.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Ensure that your RYL Awards Application Form contains complete and accurate information before submission.
Language proofreading before submission is strongly recommended to facilitate the evaluation process by the expert panel.
Application form should be saved in both Word and PDF format and submitted through https://forms.gle/49UDba1GAwudgdWj7 by 23 August 2021. Late submission or incomplete form will not be processed. The candidates will be notified when their information is received. Such notification will be regarded as confirmation of application.
Every application will go through preliminary review when it is received. Initial decisions will be conveyed to the candidates, such as the request to provide additional evidence/information. Hence, the candidates are strongly advised to prepare and submit the application form earlier, instead of submitting the form in the final week or days before the deadline. The organizing committee will not be held responsible for any issues related to internet connection and submission failure before the deadline.
A recommendation letter from the relevant authorities, such as mayor, government officials at the corporate level or the leading figures in the industry concerned about the involvement and contribution of the candidate is required to support Leadership Assessment in Section 2.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Eligibility: College/University students, young researchers/practitioners, and young adults whose age is between 18 and 35 at the time of submission are eligible for applying to RYL Awards 2021. The candidates must be citizens or permanent residents of any of the Southeast Asian countries. Unless otherwise informed through the website and Facebook page, the registration will close before the submission deadline once one hundred (100) applications are received.

Judging criteria: Each candidate can only submit one application form. In the event where a candidate makes more than one submission, only the first application form will be valid. Apart from the candidate’s eligibility, the responses to Leadership Assessment in Section 2 of the application form will be evaluated by an expert panel consisting of judges from different countries. The main judging criteria are (1) the clarity and evidence of the candidate’s contribution as a responsible youth leader, (2) the process of the candidate’s involvement showing his/her innovation and commitment, and (3) the presentation and organization of the write-up. An interview with the committee and the panelists will be arranged after the finalists are shortlisted to facilitate the second round of evaluation. Final decisions will be made after the interview and the winners announced on 9 October 2021.

Intellectual property: By submitting the application form, the candidate declares and warrants that their works are original, novel, and do not infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights. Any complaints that may arise due to similarity, likeness or comparison of the works would be the sole accountability and liability of the candidate as he/she would be responsible to prove its authenticity. Each candidate further agrees to fully indemnify SRS and all the partners against any claims, demands, proceedings, costs and expenses that may be suffered by SRS or any partners arising out of candidate’s infringement of a third party’s property right, be it intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously.

By submitting the application form, the candidate further understands that if he/she is selected as the finalists and/or the winners, all claims, rights (including any moral rights), and benefits related to the display, modification, reproduction, publication, distribution, use, and other exploitations of the works in written and spoken forms, other than the prize awarded to the winning entry, will be relinquished. All the submitted works will be jointly owned by the organizer and the candidates.

RYL Award 2021 Committee rights: Except where prohibited by law, a submission into this event constitutes permission to use the candidate’s name, likeness, prize information, and information provided on the application form for publicity purposes, without further permission from, notice or compensation to the candidate.

The decisions of RYL Awards 2021 by the committee and the expert panel will be final. In the event of any dispute arising from the awards, the candidates irrevocably and unconditionally accept that the decisions of RYL Awards 2021 are final and binding with regards to all matters in relation to and all aspects of the awards. The committee reserve their rights to add, delete, amend or modify the terms and conditions herein at their sole discretion and shall be at their liberty to terminate the awards and the event at any time without notice and/or compensation to the candidates.