The 2010 Doors to Diplomacy Awards, which were organized by the U.S. Department of State, announced the list of winners in June. The team of Lin Yne-his, Chen Chia-yu, Chen Jun-hsian(from Ming Dao High School in Taichung City) and Tseng Ping-Hou (from Dazhi High Schoolin Taipei City) won the first prize with their website-“Silent Tsunami-the food crisis” . 263 students from 29 countries joined the competition. William A. Stanton, Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, awarded the students with their prize of USD $2000 in Sun Yat-Sen Hall in Taichung City. Jason Hu and Dr. Lyushun Shen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, as senior diplomats, praised that the four students knocked on the door to diplomacy for Taiwan.
Hu said that he was so surprised to hear the good news. He had done some surveys for their works and realized that it took much effort and time to build up a website. He praised their diligence and efforts. They are model citizens of Taichung.
Hu also thanked William A. Stanton for coming to Taichung for the award ceremony. He said that the contest encourages the global youth to create good websites. He said that not all young Taiwanese people have a fair chance to compete with the people from other countries. Though he was a diplomat for many years, he was never able to step into the office of the U.S. Department of State. However, the 4 students did it because their website has entered it. He had to thank the U.S. Department of State for providing a fair opportunity for the students or they would never have won the first prize.
William A. Stanton congratulated the 4 students and he told the audience that he was so glad to have such a chance to award them in Taichung. He told the audience that the Doors to Diplomacy Awards are a global contest. 263 students from 29 countries joined the contest and the team from Taiwan won the prize. It was the 2nd time that the team from Taiwan won the contest. It was an outstanding achievement.
The website-“Silent Tsunami- Food Crisis” presented the dimensions of global food shortage. It was all written in English. From the website, people will learn the origin, impact and solutions for the global food shortage. The winners were selected by the review committee organized by the public and cultural and educational affairs officers of the U.S. Department of State. The awarded websites will be logged on the official U.S. Department of State website permanently. The team took a whole year and collected over 1000 articles and photos and interviewed the officers of the Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council of Agriculture, Taiwan ICDF, Agriculture Research Institute in Chiayi and Taichung. The contents of the website were written in Chinese and then were translated into English. It was contributed to by many governmental organizations. For the website, please visit http://oa.mingdao.edu.tw/diplomacy/en/.