Over 40 students from nine secondary schools showcased their exquisite designs in the Second Inter-Secondary School Virtual Character Design Competition organized by the Computer Science Society of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 19 November.

The competition provided a great opportunity for secondary school students to enhance their computer design skills, exchange ideas on media design. CityU students could also apply what they have learned in class and help promote computer design and media creativity through organizing the competition.

In this year’s contest, Diocesan Girls’ School won the junior group and Stewards MKMCF Ma Ko Pan Memorial College took the honours in the senior category.

The task was to design an interactive interface for teaching primary school mathematics using “My Computer Assistant”, an animated virtual character.

The winners of the junior group created “Xiao You” who helps with subtractions. The winners of the senior group created “Hat” to help illustrate different geometric shapes and introduce the concept of symmetry.

The chairman of the adjudicating panel Dr Raymond Wong Hau-san, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, said the standard of the entries had improved, especially in the design of the interactive interface and virtual characters. He made special mention of the excellent designs produced by the two winning teams and the content that caters to the learning needs of primary school students.

In preparation, the organizing committee hosted workshops on media production and computer design during summer vacation. Both the winning teams said they would recommend next year’s competition to their friends and make use of the workshops to sharpen their computer skills.

In the junior group, the first and second runner-up were Tsuen Wan Government Secondary School and PLK Mrs Ma Kam Ming - Cheung Fook Sien College, respectively. The “My Favourite Design” prize went to Diocesan Girls’ School.

In the senior group, PLK Mrs Ma Kam Ming - Cheung Fook Sien College and SKH Lui Ming Choi Secondary School were both placed third. The first runner-up and the winner of “My Favourite Design” prize was PLK Lee Shing Pik College.

The adjudicating panel for the competition consisted of four assistant professors and two instructors from CityU plus two members of the Hong Kong Association for Science and Mathematics Education.