(2015 • 江西调研）Call all poets! Time For Kids (TFK) has a challenge for you: write a funny, rhyming poem. It must be an original poem that does not copy another poet’s work. Enter it in the Time for Kids Poetry Contest! As fewer and fewer children are interested in writing poetry of their own, Time For Kids decides to organize and sponsor such a contest to change the situation.

Contest Rules

1. How to enter This contest begins at 12:01 am on March 6, 2015 and ends at 11:59 pm on July 24, 2015. To enter, mail the following information to 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 32nd Floor, New York, New York 10020: (a) an original and previously unpublished poem that is humorous and has a rhyme scheme; (b) entrant’s first name only and a parent’s mail address. Limit one entry per person. When entering, entrant promises that the entry is original, and has not been published in any medium and has not won an award.

2. Judging All entries will be judged by poet Kenn Nesbitt, based on the following criteria: creativity and originality (50%), use of language and rhyme (25%) and appropriateness to the theme of the contest (25%). The length of the entry will not be taken into consideration.

3. Prizes Our judge will select four semi-finalists (半决赛选手) from which one grand prize winner and three finalists will be chosen. The one grand prize winner will receive an online class visit from Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt and a signed copy of his newest book of poetry, The Armpit of Doom: Funny Poems for Kids, approximately value at $ 275. The three finalists will each get a signed copy of Nesbitt’s newest book of poetry, The Armpit of Doom: Funny Poems for Kids, and both their poems and that of the grand prize winner will be published at timeforkids.com.

4. Eligibility (参赛资格) Open to legal citizens of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are primary school students and are 8 to 13 years old at time of entry.

5. Winner’s list For names of the winner and finalists, visit timeforkids.com (after August 1, 2015, available for a period of 10 days).

WHO WE ARE

China Daily and its Discover Beautiful China platform (dbc.chinaservicesinfo.com), China Daily Website and China Daily App are calling for submissions (提交) of photos and videos from now until 30 December 2022.

Organizations and individuals, both in China and around the world, are welcome to share with us works describing the beautiful country of China.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Photos or short videos with four major themes:

•Sceneries of China

•Cityscapes in China

•Customs unique to China

•Cultural heritage of China

Languages in either English or Chinese are preferred.

WHAT YOU CAN GET

Among prizes/awards to be given to the individual winners, we offer a top prize of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,496). Some of the best works have a chance to be featured on the China Daily Website, dbc.chinaservicesinfo.com, and China Daily App (with 37 million users).

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

1. Photos

No more than 10 photos, 5 MB at most for each; with a caption (说明文字) of up to 200 words; format (格式) in JPG or PNG

2. Videos

Format: MP4 or MOV

Size: 1 GB at most, less than 4 minutes

Caption: 200-500 English or Chinese words to give a brief introduction

HOW TO SUBMIT

*Click the button to see the full text of the statement

CONTACT US:

liyangl@chinadaily.com.cn

lvfu@chinadaily.com.cn

Rachel sat on the back steps, pounding her fist into her softball (垒球) glove and staring at the old tire swing in the backyard. Tryouts for the softball team were next week, and she desperately needed someone to act as catcher while she worked on her pitching (投，击). Unfortunately her father was away on business, and her mother was embroiled in final exams. Her mother was so wrapped up in studying that she barely had time to eat. Rachel wondered what to do as she woefully stoked her dog Kit.

Her grandfather came around the comer of the house and stopped when he saw Rachel. “Why the long face?” he asked. “Pitching tryouts are next week. Grandpa,” she explained. “And I need to be in top form-four girls are trying out for only three pitching positions. But there's no one around who can practice with me.” She tossed the softball to Kit, who smartly leapt into the air and easily caught the ball with her teeth. Kit eagerly ran back to Rachel and placed the ball at her feet.

Grandpa offered to help. Rachel swallowed hard. Her grandfather had injured his hip and had to stay in a wheelchair now. She certainly didn't want to cause him further injury by hurling fast pitches at him, but how could she refuse his offer without hunting him?

Her grandfather slowly moved his wheelchair into the backyard and told Rachel to stand where he pointed. Rachel obeyed quickly, and Kit followed her. “Take a look at that tire swing. Rachel. It looks like the batter's (击球手) strike zone, wouldn't you say?” asked her grandfather. Rachel eyed the swing and nodded slowly. She said, “So if my pitch makes it through the tire, I'm almost certainly throwing a strike. Everything else is probably outside the strike zone.” Her grandfather smiled and added, “We can always raise or lower the tire to simulate (模拟) the strike zones of taller or shorter batters.” “But what about a catcher?” asked Rachel. “I don't want to keep fetching my own pitches.” “I've got the perfect solution to your problem,” said her grandfather, who moved forward to throw Rachel's softball across the yard. “Go get it, Kit!” he shouted. The excellent dog ran after the ball, picked it up in her jaws, end bounded back with her prize. Rachel gave him a grateful hug and said, “Grandpa, I think my chances of making the team just improved one hundred per cent!”