Date: June 30, 2022 

Authors: Mei Aoxue

The 19th Jinan Poetry Award Ceremony was held online on the video website Bilibili and the live-streaming platform Tyndall on May 30. Hosted by the Collaborative Innovation Center for Chinese Culture, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Inheritance and Communication and JNU's College of Literature, it was co-organized by the China World Association for Chinese Literatures and the magazines Wen Zong and Hong Kong Writer.

The 19th Jinan Poetry Award, with the theme of Extol China with Poems and Spread Them Overseas, cooperated with many well-known domestic and overseas journals and media to issue a call for papers from students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. By the Sept. 30 deadline, 225 poems had been received from Belarus, Hong Kong, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Xiamen University and other regions and colleges in mainland China. After rounds of selection, one first prize for modern poetry and one for ancient poetry, two second prizes, three third prizes and several excellent prizes were awarded.

Xia Quan, deputy secretary of the JNU Party Committee, said the event was held to promote the cultural construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and to stimulate the cultural enthusiasm of students in China and abroad to read, appreciate and write poems, so that Chinese excellent culture may be spread through youth messengers.

Jiang Shuzhuo, chairman of the Guangdong Writers Association and the Poetry Award Jury, said that during the judging process, the jury strictly adhered to an open, fair and impartial attitude in soliciting and screening manuscripts. 

Li Bo, professor and doctoral supervisor in Nanjing Normal University's School of Literature, said he hoped the students present would keep their hearts pure forever.

As a brand cultural event established by the College of Liberal Arts, the Jinan Poetry Award was founded in 2002. This is the first time it has changed the tradition of soliciting contributions only from JNU students, expanding the solicitation to colleges and universities in China and abroad. The Poetry Award aims to serve as a platform for creation and evaluation to increase cultural exchanges among students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and mainland students, providing an opportunity to make friends through poetry, appreciate the charm of traditional Chinese culture, and promote JNU's historical mission of spreading Chinese culture to all continents.