TAIPEI-The Tang Prize Foundation announced the winner of its creation competition for high school students, with Taitung's KungTung Technical Senior High School (公東高工) garnering the top award for its innovative invention that conveys the spirit of sustainable development.
The Tang Prize Foundation has teamed up with high schools in Taiwan to launch a program that is aimed at inspiring students' interest in the award's four fields — Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology and Rule of Law.
A team of students from KungTung Technical Senior High School invented an energysaving teaching tool by putting an incandescent light bulb, halogen light bulb, fluorescent light bulb, and lightemitting diode (LED) bulb on a board. Users then can easily know the electric energy consumption of each light bulb by controlling a switch.
According to the team's instructor, Huang Jianchao(黃建超), his students created this teaching tool by combining what they have learned from their own fields, and the goal is to help students from middleschools and elementary schools to absorb the energysaving knowledge in an innovative way.
Other winners announced at the ceremony included a team of students from the Kaohsiung Municipal Girl's Senior High School (高雄女中). They won the award under the category of Rule of Law; while Tainan First High School took the award in the Sinology category.
The competition has attracted 8 teams from seven schools, and the top three teams will receive prize money of NT$30,000 (US$922.35), NT$20,000 and NT$10,000,respectively. Even though the program aims to tap the creative side of students, Tang Prize Foundation CEO Chern Jennchuan (陳振川) had previously said that the ultimate goal of this competition is to help build up Taiwanese students' ability to think in depth about social and environmental justice issues.
The Tang Prize was established in 2012 by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin (尹衍樑)to honor leading figures from around the world in different fields. The prize takes its name from the Tang Dynasty (618 907A.D.), a period considered to be the height of classical Chinese civilization, characterized by liberal policies and robust cultural activity.
