SIX students won the #NSTWRITE4SEAA essay competition that received more than 200 submissions from across the country.
Aayden Davadason Abszra, 11, from SK St. Francis, Melaka, won the top prize under Category A (10 to 13 years old) and got RM500.
Maryam Sofea Ahmad Firdaus, 13, from Mara Junior Science College Johor Baru, took the second prize, and Alisa Rose Teo Zhi Hui, 12, from SJK (C) Keong Hoe in Penang won the third prize.
Maryam and Alisa will receive RM300 and RM100, respectively.
For Category B (14 to 18 years old), Joseph Tan Yung Wei, 16, from SMK Damansara Utama in Selangor, bagged the first prize and got RM800.
Mikail Ezha Muhamad Izham, 15, from Kolej Yayasan Saad Melaka, won the second prize of RM500, and Dhievakar Paramesivan, 16, from SMK Ibrahim in Kedah, came in third and got RM300.
Congratulating the winners, New Straits Times (NST) group editor Ahmad Lokman Mansor said the contest received an overwhelming response from students who raised impressive concerns and proposals on environmental preservation.
"We enjoyed reading all the essays and it was encouraging to see the younger generation being vocal on community-centric issues, such as the environment.
"All participants should continue to express their ideas through their writings and we hope to organise more essay-writing competitions for them in the future," he said.
The competition was organised by NST in collaboration with Galeri Prima's Ameliorate exhibition under its Sustainable & Environmental Arts Assemble campaign.
Participants in Category A were challenged to write an essay between 500 and 750 words
about their take on environmental preservation.
Participants in Category B had to pen their thoughts on
the changes they would bring to the environment as young leaders.
The contest was held between Oct 20 and Nov 7.
The essays were screened by a panel of judges through two rounds of evaluation and, subsequently, six winners were picked.
NST will contact the winners via email.