The International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP) is holding the 2019 Asia-Pacific Youth ICH Storytelling Contest from 15 July to 15 October.

UNESCO has recognized the youth as a priority group and emphasized their involvement as the driver of innovation and change for sustainable development. Youth practitioners play a particularly important role, as ICH relies on the direct transmission among community members. As a UNESCO category 2 center, ICHCAP has organized the youth ICH storytelling contest with an aim to give youth practitioners an opportunity to develop their safeguarding activities and raise awareness of ICH among young generations.

Applicants aged between 18 and 35 (born in 1983-2001) can participate in the contest. The contest has two categories: youth practitioners (theme: My Dream, My ICH), and the youth in general (theme: Youth Meets ICH). For the former category, youth practitioners can submit their own stories in the form of an interview or essay. For the latter category, young people can submit stories about ICH they meet in their everyday lives or on travels. Submissions should be either photo essays or videos. Submissions should be in English, but the applicant' s native language may be used if the submitted video has English subtitles.

ICHCAP will select a total of 36 winners and give them certificates and prizes. The awards to be offered in each category are: Grand Prize for 1 person, Excellence Prize (1 person), Distinction Prize (2 persons), Special Award (4 persons), and Participation Prize (10 persons). ICHCAP is planning to hold online exhibitions or publish photo essays using the prize winning entries.

ICHCAP expects that the contest will help raise awareness of youth participation in ICH safeguarding. Applicants can register their submissions online via the contest website (http://www.ichcap.org/mc/), which provides detailed information about the contest.