FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
National English Olympics (NEO) is an annual event conducted by the BINUS English Club (BNEC) to be a platform to gather the potential talents from students around Indonesia to compete in 4 fields (Newscasting, Debate, Storytelling, and Speech)
NEO 2023 will be held on January 8, January 10-11
- January 8: Opening Ceremony,
- January 10: Prelimination round
- January 11: Semi Final, Grand Final, Closing Ceremony
The NEO 2023 will be held Hybrid by ZOOM for (Technical Meeting and Coaching Clinic) and ONSITE at BINUS Alam Sutera Main Campus for Preliminary, Semifinal and Grand Final on January 8th until January 11th.
Yes, international students who are currently studying in Indonesia are welcome to participate in the National English Olympics (NEO)
There are no specific tools to bring, participants can bring general items such as stationery.
Yes, the NEO 2023 will provide religious hour and also dietary restrictions related food that will be asked by our committee.
The e-booklet is provided on the website.
No, you are not allowed to join two competition fields simultaneously.
Yes, one account can be used to register several participants.
Each institution is allowed to have three contenders (maximum) for each competition field.
All participants are only allowed to take photo and/or video in the semifinal and final.
No, you don't need to make a new account. You can register again by following the steps after you log in to your account.
Scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and you will find the “Request Invitation Letter” button.
Sorry, we do not provide any refund for any cancellation.
You will receive the payment confirmation 1x24 hours after payment is made; it will indicate your registration is successful.
The NEO 2023 team will give every participant coming from outside the region a place to stay while the event is held with a predetermined fee, or participants can look it up themselves.
Payment must be made in full, which means no installment payments are accepted.
You can contact our official LINE account [LINE ID: @816tzkes] maximum D-1 before the Technical Meeting and Coaching Clinic, and the committees will help you to change your data.
Yes, you may participate in the same competition as you did before, or choose a whole different category entirely.
Unfortunately, only ONE of the participant's companions/guide is allowed to enter the competition.
You can follow our Instagram account, which is @bnec.neo, for any latest announcements about NEO 2023.
The participants MUST be enrolled in senior high school or university in Indonesia with the age range of 15-22 years old.
DEBATE
Yes, it is possible. The name of the team can be anything you prefer.
All motions for each round are impromptu motions.
Draws and motions will be released on the competition day when all participants have gathered in the debating chambers.
Audiences are allowed to enter the chamber 20 minutes before the round starts and are not allowed to exit the room when the debate is ongoing. Supporters are not allowed to attend during Preliminary Rounds 1, 2, and 3. However, they are permitted to watch the Semi-final and Grand-final, with the condition that they are not allowed to make any noises and may be asked to leave the room if the judges and participants feel disturbed.
The debate for each round will last for 120 minutes; 15 minutes for case building and 7 minutes 20 seconds maximum speaking time for each speaker. The first two rounds of the preliminary round will have oral adjudication. The third round of preliminary, Semi-final, and Grand Final will be silent rounds.
Yes, the technical meeting is mandatory for all participants. Participants who have a personal emergency should inform the committee a maximum of 1 day before the technical meeting. If the participants fail to attend the technical session, the participants will be disqualified.
The competition will be split into two types of rounds, preliminary and elimination rounds. Preliminary rounds and elimination rounds will take place on-site at BINUS Alam Sutera, all participants will gather in the debate hall before rounds begin and then a room will be assigned after the opening session followed by motion released which starts the case building and you will be led to your assigned chamber where the debate will take place. Oral adjudication will only be given during the first two rounds of the preliminary rounds.
SPEECH
Participants MUST be at least 15 years old but no older than 22 years old by 2023, and they must also be a highschool/university student.
Participants who are previous winners of NEO are ALLOWED to join the same competition field. You can also choose another category to participate in.
Only 16 participants from the preliminary round will proceed to the semi-final round, and only 8 participants from the semi-final round will proceed to the final round.
Yes, the speech script MUST be original and must not have been used in any previous competition. If a participant uses a script that has been used before and is known by the judges, the participant will be subject to a reduction in score according to the judges' decision, which may result in DISQUALIFICATION. We WILL NOT tolerate plagiarism in your work.
Participants must wear formal shirts (preferably with ties) during the preliminary round and semi-final round. For the final round, participants ARE REQUIRED to wear a formal shirt with their university’s alma mater (for university students), or a school uniform with a blazer (for high school students). All participants must wear shoes (or flat shoes) for the onsite competition days—no jeans, t-shirts, polo shirts, sneakers, hats, or sweatshirts. Participants must wear dark-colored long trousers, and female participants are allowed to wear formal skirts.
The participants are NOT ALLOWED to contact the judges. You can ask the Liaison Officers (LO) anything related to the Speech Competition.
Participants who don’t attend the Technical Meeting and Coaching Clinic WILL NOT BE GUARANTEED to get further information from the committee outside the sessions. If participants can not participate, they MUST INFORM beforehand to the committee regarding their absence and can ask for written notes of the event after it is finished. If they don’t inform a valid reason at least D-1 of the event, they WILL NOT receive any further information regarding the event.
If you go over the time limit, there will be a spare time of 30 seconds. There will be no deduction if you stop within those 30 seconds. However, after exceeding the 30 seconds mark, you will be DISQUALIFIED automatically.
NO, the competition scoring WILL NOT be shared with the participants.
All participants WILL RECEIVE a certificate. However, only the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winners will receive a certificate along with fresh money and other prizes.
The judging criteria for speech competition consist of the following:
- Performance (40%): General Appearance, Gesture, Stage Mastery
- Technicality (30%): Fluency & Clarity, Pronunciation & Grammar, Vocal
- Story (30%): Flow of the Speech, Speech Attraction
Participants are NOT ALLOWED to use PowerPoint, music, media, or props when delivering their speech.
The coaching clinic session will be delivered by one judge and every tip and trick will be given IN GENERAL.
Participants are ALLOWED to refer to notes, but there are possibilities of score reduction. For this reason, we encourage students to memorize as much as possible. That said, please do not let this prevent you from participating. Participants could bring their notes on a cue card only for one page on a small piece of paper.
The TECHNICAL MEETING & COACHING CLINIC will be held ONLINE by Zoom, and the PRELIMINARY ROUNDS, SEMIFINAL ROUND and GRAND FINAL will be held ONSITE at BINUS Alam Sutera Main Campus.
NEWSCASTING
There will be three rounds in the Newscasting Competition: the first will be the News Reading round, the second will be the Live Report round, and the last round will be the Talk Show round.
The requirement to participate is that you must be a senior high school or university student between the ages of 15 and 22 years old.
Each participant will compete individually against other participants in the Newscasting Competition.
The script WILL NOT be provided. For the preliminary round, the participants must create their own script according to the theme that will be announced during the Technical Meeting. The participants may use various sources, including the internet, to conduct research when making the script. However, copy-pasting information from the internet IS NOT PERMITTED. If the participants PLAGIARIZE, the participant will be DISQUALIFIED.
The theme for the preliminary round will be announced during the Technical Meeting.
For the preliminary round, the participants will be given 5 minutes to perform. For the semi-final round, the participants will be given 2 minutes of preparation time with 3 minutes performance. For the grand final round, the participants will be given 5 minutes of preparation time with a 10 minutes performance.
The participants should follow the Dress Code & Appearance from Newscasting Competition E-Booklet.
STORYTELLING
Participants must wear formal shirts (preferably with ties) during the preliminary round and semi-final round. For the final round, participants ARE REQUIRED to wear a formal shirt with their university’s alma mater (for university students), or a school uniform with a blazer (for high school students). All participants must wear shoes (or flat shoes) for the onsite competition days—no jeans, t-shirts, polo shirts, sneakers, hats, or sweatshirts. Participants must wear dark-colored long trousers, and female participants are allowed to wear formal skirts.
Yes, prior contest participants are welcome to apply again for the storytelling competition. You can also choose another category to participate in.
No, the competition scoring will not be shared with the participants.
The NEO Storytelling Competition will be held ONLINE and ONSITE. Technical Meeting, Coaching Clinic, and the Preliminary round will be held online via Zoom, while the Semi-Final round and Grand Final will be conducted on-site at BINUS University Alam Sutera.
Yes, attending the Technical Meeting and Coaching Clinic is mandatory.
Participants who don’t attend the Technical Meeting and Coaching Clinic WILL NOT BE GUARANTEED to get further information from the committee outside those sessions. If participants can not participate, they MUST INFORM the committee beforehand regarding their absence and can ask for written notes of the event after it is finished. If they do not inform a valid reason at least D-1 of the event, they WILL NOT receive any information of the event.
The judging criteria for the storytelling competition are divided into three parts, namely, Story 25%, Performance 45%, and Technicality 30%.
It is advisable for the story to be original, but adaptations and retellings are allowed. However, the story MUST have a difference in plot. We WILL NOT condone plagiarism in your work.
In the storytelling competition, each round has a different maximum time limit. During the preliminary round, each participant will have a maximum of five minutes to present their chosen story. In the semi-final round, participants are given five minutes to prepare and five minutes to perform. During the final round, participants will be allotted a maximum of three minutes for preparation and ten minutes for their performance.
The use of props or visuals may be allowed, but it depends on the competition rounds. Please check the storytelling E-booklet which can be accessed from the general E-Booklet.
In the storytelling competition, 15 participants will advance from the preliminary round to the semi-final round. From the semi-final round, only 7 participants will move on to the final round.
Yes, for the submission of the written version of the story, please check the Storytelling Competition E-booklet for the details.
No, the file can only be submitted once. Participants should carefully review their submissions before finalizing them. Most competitions do not provide compensation for submission errors, so accuracy is essential.
Contacting judges directly is NOT ALLOWED. Instead, participants can direct their inquiries to the competition organizers, who can relay questions or feedback to the judges if necessary.