A Song for EVERYONE Contest

Based on the “EVERYONE” theme, a song writing contest was held among staff of Save the Children as part of the Newborn and Child Survival Initiative in Myanmar.

The objectives of doing this contest were to engage the staff in developing a song that would raise awareness and public action for the EVERYONE Initiative; and to hone our staffs' talent in song writing, as part of a holistic staff development.
The staff was very excited to read the announcement of the song writing competition as this was the first activity of this kind that was open to them. There were many talented staff both in the head office and in the field who were competent in composing and performing songs. The time allowance for staff to submit their songs was one and a half month. Each individual was allowed to submit only one song and it had to be own-tuned.



A total of 25 songs were received for the entry from different Save the Children offices across Myanmar. Based on the set criteria, the first round's judges selected the top 10 songs in the beginning of May. On the second round judging, five out of ten were selected. Those top five songs were announced and the composers were invited to come and perform their song on the final judging day which was on 28th May 2010.



There were 5 groups of judges: a national director who used to be a guitarist and singer; one expatriate advisor who is very energetic in singing and dancing; one expatriate advisor who is a professional song writer and singer, with experience in song production; an external music producer from Studio D; and a group of children acting as one panel of judge. The audience were also part of the judging process as they had the power to vote for their favorite composer via stickers on a board.



It was a very exciting day. Almost all the Save the Children staff attended the event and were very enthusiastic when it came to applauding the contestants' performances. The contestants performed their songs very well. I guess the judges had a hard time scoring each song. During the break, while the judges summed up their marks with the audience voting, the MC and some volunteer staff went among the audience and got their opinion on the performing songs.

Together with the team members, I was exhausting in planning the event. However, when I saw the success of the event and the joy of the winner and the staff, my weariness went away. I am sure all the staff enjoyed the competition.

This kind of event is not only enjoyable but also informative in raising awareness of our Newborn and Child Survival initiative, as well as mobilizing more people into becoming "hand raisers."

~Naw Phoebe Bryan