The Guangzhou Award wrapped up a competition on August 21st, which invited the public to write its official theme song and describe the beauty of urban life.

‘Voice of Guangzhou’, a song that fuses Cantonese opera with rap music, won in the final competition. Hazza, an Australian TV host and one of the judges of the competition, considered the song can very well represents the image of Guangzhou as it showcases the city’s multicultural environment and inclusiveness with the use of bilingual lyrics and mix of different music elements.

According to the organizer, the competition aims to promote the Guangzhou Award globally and enhance public engagement. As of June 30th, they received more than 200 songs from all over the country. These songs cover different music genres such as folk, pop and Bel Canto. They are also written in different languages and dialects, showing the characteristic of different culture.

“People can hear this theme song soon in the city’s major international events including the Guangzhou Award. The song expresses our vision to seek innovative and sustainable development,” said Zhou Yongjin, deputy director general of Guangzhou Award Secretariat.

The biennial Guangzhou Award is co-sponsored by United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Metropolis (the Metropolitan section of UCLG) and the city of Guangzhou.

As well as the music award, it encourages global cities to address the rapid challenges of metropolitan areas and to provide institutional assistance for urban innovation and communities. It also serves to analyze how and why local authorities are implementing the Global Goals of New Urban Agenda (NUA) and multilateral goals of 2030 Sustainable Development (2030 SDGs).

Zhou Yongjin said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for many cities and regions to hand in their applications so some missed the submission deadline. “Therefore, the Guangzhou Award Organizing Committee has decided to extend the final submission deadline to October 31st and postpone the award ceremony to 2021.”

In addition, Zhou highlighted that the Award welcomes cities to share initiatives in responding to the pandemic this year apart from other urban innovation topics. It also welcomes applications with forward looking post COVID-19 initiatives regarding how cities and regions are rethinking their local governance mechanisms, reconsidering the urban morphology and typology, addressing the problems exposed and improving the resilience of urban economies.

Author: Jasmine

Editor: Keane, Jerry