UTAR Software Engineering student wins third place in international article writing competition

Choo won third place in Written Article (18 – 24 years old) category

Bachelor of Science (Honours) Software Engineering student Choo Jia Zheng won Third Place at the Article Writing Competition of the National Young Reporters for the Environment (NYRE) 2023, held from 1 June 2023 to 1 October 2023. He walked away with a certificate and a cash prize of RM200 for his entry titled “Innovations in Aquaculture for Climate Resilience”. He was supervised by Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science academic Ts Dr Sugumaran Nallusamy.

Organised by the Green Growth Asia Foundation (GGAF), the international competition was divided into three (3) media categories, namely article, photography and videography. Choo won under the Written Article (18 – 24 years old) category. The objective of the ‘Written Article’ was to state a true and accurate story about a problem faced by the world community and share it with the public locally and internationally from an environmental perspective.

In the article, Choo highlighted the effects of climate change which have become increasingly noticeable in Malaysia in the past decades. Choo also proposed a potential solution in the article by disclosing a project that he had been working on with his lecturer to counter climate change. The project was titled In-house Tilapia Aquaculture using Biofloc Technology.

Apart from encouraging young people to speak up about environmental issues, the competition also sought to promote the works created by participants and share their thoughts and opinions with the public at the state, national, and international levels.

All submissions went through an intensive and detailed screening process. Judges for the state and national levels evaluated and awarded entries for first, second and third place. Following that, these winners continued their journey to the international YRE competition where they were evaluated by international judges under the auspices of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

Authorised by the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE), the NYRE programme is also endorsed by the Malaysian Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA).

Background info

Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) is an international programme operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), the world’s largest environmental education organisation. The programme, which has active members from 77 countries, provides an opportunity for young people to discuss environmental issues using written, photographic, or video. Other than that, this programme also empowers young people to gain knowledge and take a stand on environmental issues that involve themselves and the communities they live in.