The finals of the fifth session of the China Public Welfare Project Contest were held in Shenzhen on August 7, with the top 40 eligible projects rivalling each other after a fierce competition.
In order to get a have a broad variety of viewpoints among the reviewers, 35 people were chosen to form the review board, including a review presidium consisting of five experts famous in academic and business circles, and a mass review team consisting of 30 investors, sponsors and journalists.
The Golden and Silver Awards were officially released after a promotional review. 5 projects won the Golden Award and 15 won the Silver Award for Social Innovation, while 5 won the Golden Award and 15 won the Silver Award for University Student NGO Makers. The listed projects will be exhibited and awarded during the fifth session of the China Charity Fair on September 23-25.
Since starting on May 18, the contest has attracted interest from people in media, philanthropy, investment and startups. 1128 projects from 31 regions have taken part in the contest, including 749 ones applying for the social innovation award and 379 ones applying for the university student NGO makers award. The projects were supposed to be related to the 17 sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations, covering the issues of poverty alleviation, high-quality education, the environment, and urban and rural development.
To improve the quality of the projects participating in the contest, the organizers carried out a five-day program for the top 40 projects and hosted a forum on the UN sustainable development goals and innovative social startups; invited experts from different fields acted as supervisors in order to improve the projects in terms of product design, operation and business models.
The Secretary General of the Shenzhen Social Philanthropy Foundation Yang Qinhuan stated that the organizers of the event expect to make the China Public Welfare Projects the best platform for NGO makers, build a virtuous cycle through the projects collection, contest, capacity building, integration of resources, and common services, and train more youth who aspire to solve social problems through social innovation to become outstanding social entrepreneurs.
