Preliminary Rounds to Kick off for the 2021 KSI Korean Speech and Writing Contests

KSIs have the option of holding the preliminary rounds for the contest online or offline
More people, including the graduates of Sejong Culture Academy, are eligible to participate

The King Sejong Institute Foundation (KSIF) is set to kick off the preliminary rounds of the KSI Korean Speech Contest and KSI Korean Writing Contest taking place at a global level. The highest scorers as well as excellent learners who have been selected by KSIF to enter the final round will be invited to Korea for an opportunity to practice their Korean skills and experience Korean culture firsthand, in addition to receiving scholarships for language education at a Korean university.

The KSI Korean Speech Contest and KSI Korean Writing Contest are two of the biggest scholarship programs of KSIF. Those who have passed the preliminary rounds are invited to Korea for a training program for “Outstanding learners from KSI” and the final round in October. As it was the case last year, the final round will be held online this year due to COVID-19.

This year, the preliminary rounds will take place at 213 KSI locations in 76 countries from April to June. Participants need to choose one of the two topics provided for the speech and writing contests each. Some 16 participants who passed the preliminary and main rounds will then compete at the final round, where entirely new topics will be given.

The winners of the contests will each be provided with a scholarship voucher to study Korean at a Korean university in 2022 along with round-trip tickets. If the contests are held on an online platform, all participants and the instructors for the participants will each be provided with a tablet PC.

Manager Lee Kyungshin from KSIF who took part in this project said, “For this year’s Korean speech and writing contests, those who have completed a program at Sejong Culture Academy, in addition to KSI learners, will be able to participate. [...] We will do our best to provide more opportunities for foreigners who love the Korean language to participate in the contests and make sure that the contests remains fair and objective.”