HONG KONG - Altogether 20 students from the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) were awarded the top prize of China's national middle school writing contest on Monday.

Around 150 finalists went through rounds of competition in the past three days, including listening, reading, writing and impromptu speech, before reaching for the top prize.

The Hong Kong SAR government is making efforts to support youth development, Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam said at the awarding ceremony.

One of the aims of the writing contest was to raise students' moral standards and help them establish a positive value system, which coincides with the ideas of Hong Kong's school education, she said.

China's national middle school writing contest has been held for 12 years since 2005. This year's event, themed "Taking on Responsibilities while Growing Up," has attracted over 20 million participants from around the country.