1. Online Test Round – Starship
❖ Objectives
Create an opportunity for students to learn more about cultural, heritage, and integration of the country as well as enhance their soft skills and communication skills in English.
❖ Format: Online tests on the website www.starawards.vn
The Online Test Round – Starship is simultaneously taken place at 6 clusters nationwide with the format of online testing on computers or mobile devices. When signing up accounts on the website, contestants are required to provide their factual personal information for the Organization Committee to verify and contact if necessary. After finishing the registration, each contestant will be provided with one account to do the test. There are 3 parts in the Online Test Round:
● Part 1: Multiple-choice test (60% of total score)
Each contestant has 3 attempts to do the test, of which the one with the best result will be used for assessment if the contestant is qualified to enter the next round. The contestant will access the Internet and do the online test with 30 questions in 30 minutes. Weekly, Top 10 contestants with the highest scores in each cluster will win weekly prizes.
● Part 2: Writing test (40% of total score)
The contestant picks one of the three below topics to do the writing test:
Topic 1: How do you think about the role of students in preserving Vietnam’s heritage?
Topic 2: How could you as a student contribute to the preservation of Vietnam’s national traditional culture?
Topic 3: Rice bran oil is an “amazing” product which inherits the tale of Viet Nam’s brown rice. Base on the benefits, production, domestic consumption, global needs… of rice bran oil, what are your recommendations/ suggestions to spread the tale of “amazing” rice bran oil and make it well penetrated into the global markets?
The essay should be written in English at least 300 words and submitted directly on the website. Each contestant can submit the writing test only once during the contest.
● Part 3: Speaking test
From the total scores of multiple-choice and writing test, the Cluster Panel of Judges will shortlist the contestants of highest scores to enter the Speaking test which examines English communication skills. After the Speaking test, the Panel of Judges will select the Top 30 contestants to the Cluster Final Round.
2. Cluster Final Round – Starlight
❖ Objectives
Each cluster must choose the Top 30 contestants for its final round, who are then divided into 10 groups of 3, of which only one team with the most outstanding idea shall be selected to the National Final Round.
❖ Format
Before the Cluster Final Round takes place, the Top 30 contestants will be randomly divided into 10 groups of 3. Each team will discuss and come up with an idea about an given topic culture, heritage and integration (hereinafter referred to as “idea”) in culture, heritage and integration. The Cluster Final Round consists of 3 following parts:
● Part 1: Idea presentation (60% of total score)
The teams present their ideas to the Panel of Judges within 10 minutes, including but not restricted to the following contents:
○ Brief introduction about the topic.
○ Detailed description of the team’s hometown, ending with the message given by the Organizing Committee.
○ Incorporation of pictures, movies, costumes, props and so on (if available) to clearly convey the message of the presentation.
○ Participation of all team members during the presentation.
● Part 2: Defence against the Panel of Judges: (40% of total score)
After the presentation of each group, the Panel of Judges will raise questions. The task of the team is to answer questions to clarify and convince the Panel of Judge about the content of their team’s topic. The Panel of Judges will evaluate the feasibility of the idea on the basis of the answers. The time limit for this part is 5 minutes.
English is the official language in the Cluster Final Round. The team with the highest score from all three parts will be the cluster’s representative to compete for the National Final Round taking place in Hue. The Panel of Judges will give advice to improve the team’s idea.
● Part 3: Sharing
The teams will use the products prepared in the “Idea presentation” round to send to the Organizers. The product will be posted on the original Fanpage of the contest. The team with the highest number of votes will win the awards from the Organizers.
3. National Final Round – Star Union
The National Final Round will be held in Hue City and hosted by the Hue University. This round includes the following activities:
3.1. Project Consultancy and Training Activities
Before the day of the National Final Round, the teams will get advice from the Panel of Judges to finalize their projects and attend training courses on presentation and debate in English as well as other skills.
3.2. The National Final Round
❖ Objectives:
To provide the student with an opportunity to look into a problem under several perspectives, understand it deeply and apply that skill to develop themselves in many fields. The National Final Round will be the contest among 6 teams from 6 clusters.
❖ Format:
Top 6 teams representing 6 clusters to join the National Final Round will go through these following parts:
● Part 1: Warming up
The teams take turns to choose one of the warming-up question packs. Within 2 minutes, one member represents the team to answer a maximum of 10 questions in English, related to many life aspects: society, culture, heritage, integration and so forth. For each correct answer, the team gets 5 points. For the incorrect answer, there’s no minus point.
The maximum score for this part is 50 points.
● Part 2: Debate
Six teams are divided into three groups with two teams per group.
Each debate includes:
○ The Support team, consisting of three people, is referred to Team A.
○ The Opposition team, consisting of three people, is referred to Team B.
One week before the official contest, two contestants representing two teams will randomly select their team’s main topic from two given topics. The main topic of Team A will be the sub-topic of Team B and vice versa. In this round, each team will have to support the main topic and debate against the sub-topic. The teams are allowed to freely research and prepare for their topics for seven days.
The debate consists of two main parts intertwined:
○ The speaking part of the members of each team.
○ The debate between the representatives of each team.
The official language in the National Final Round is English. From the total score of the three parts, the Panel of Judges will choose 1 first prize, 1 second prize, 1 third prize and 3 consolation prizes.
3.3. Experiencing the market tour
After the contest, all teams will have practical experience with a market tour, paying a visit to the distribution channels of Wilmar CLV.
3.4. Experiencing the local tourism
Apart from the market tour, the teams will pay a visit to many tourist attractions in Hue.