Short Story Writing Contest 2016 #1 Results

First Prize Winner
Name: Avighna Nambiar
Age: 7 years
School: GEMS Our Own English High School
Country: Dubai, UAE
Story Title: The Mango Tree – A friend of All
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Avighna Nambiar likes reading, listening to stories, drawing, music and dance. She also loves to travel and to spend time with family and friends. Her ambition is to become a world-famous artist.

Avighna’s story, ‘The Mango Tree - A Friend Of All’ tells us about the determination of a young girl and her family, to preserve a mango tree near their house. The family finds an admirable way to convey to their neighbor the message that trees are important to us.

Second Prize Winner
Name: Sumena Nair
Age: 8 years
School: Comanche Springs Elementary, Fort Worth
Country: United States of America (USA)
Story Title: Chloe And Shimmer
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Sumena is an adorable seven year old who loves to dream and weave her own fantasy land with the characters she creates. Born in Botswana, she grew up with her grandparents before she moved to the United States two years back. She is a proud second grader at her favorite school, Comanche Springs Elementary, Fort Worth. She loves books. Making little rhymes is her favorite pastime. She believes in fairies and magic, and some day she wants to grow wings and fly. She loves her family and is an amazing elder sister to her baby sister Nehal. Her love for books, art and her sister has shaped her ambitions for becoming a writer, an artist and a pediatrician!

Sumena Nair’s story, 'Chloe and Shimmer' is about the unique bond between a girl who had no friends to play with, and a bird that came into her life as a friend. It ends when the bird has to be freed, much to the disappointment of Chloe. The story ends on a happy note as the bird is back soon, to be with its new human friend.

Third Prize Winner
Name: Zahra Juzer Gandhi
Age: 7 years
School: GEMS Our Own English School
Country: Dubai, UAE
Story Title: The King Of The Jungle
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Zahra studies in Grade-2, and her hobbies are drawing and swimming. She likes reading story books, and making models with her blocks. Her ambition is to become a fashion designer.

Zahra’s story, ‘The King of the Jungle’ tells the story of an elephant that was kind enough to spoil his chances of becoming the king of the jungle, for the sake of safeguarding the eggs of an eagle.

First Prize Winner
Name: Nahiyan Raidah
Age: 11 years
School: Mossford Green Primary School
Country: United Kingdom
Story Title: The Path
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Nahiyan Raidah is a year 6 student, and her hobbies are playing netball and scouting. Her ambition is to become a space scientist.

Nahiyan’s story, ‘The Path’ is a multi-layered story about the events in the life of a small boy, who goes through harrowing experiences following the death of his father. The boy’s experiences are narrated in such a way as to build suspense, and to sustain a dark tone throughout.

Second Prize Winner
Name: Sneha Elizabeth Panackal
Age: 11 years
School: Chung Hua Middle School, Kuala Belait
Country: Negara Brunei Darussalam
Story Title: The Day I Gained Respect From My Classmates
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Sneha Elizabeth is in grade 6, and loves reading and baking. She can finish reading thick books in no time! Her ambition is to become an English professor, psychologist or a political figure like Hillary Clinton!

Sneha’s story, ‘The Day I Gained Respect From My Classmates’ describes how she got her first friend in a new school, by doing something that was truly courageous.

Third Prize Winner
Name: Paul Romeo Eje Bobadilla
Age: 12 years
School: Saint Angela’s School, Seria
Country: Negara Brunei Darussalam
Story Title: The Foolish Mouse
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Paul is an assertive person who always expresses his ideas in writing. He has always been interested in going to the court as a lawyer someday, protecting and proving that his clients are innocent. Therefore he is planning to go to a law school to fulfill his dream of becoming a lawyer. During his free time he likes to read and make up his own stories. Moreover, to keep his body fit, he plays basketball.

Paul’s story, ‘The Foolish Mouse’ is about an unlikely friendship between a mouse and a snake, which is disturbed when the mouse gets married. As the mouse begins to ignore the snake, the latter feels not obliged to be nice to the mouse anymore, and decides to act according to its true nature, which is to strike and kill. The mouse escapes, but after learning a good lesson.

First Prize Winner
Name: Muram Mutwakil
Age: 13 years
Country: Al-Ain, UAE
Story Title: Through Their Eyes
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Muram Mutwakil is 13 years old, and is a wishful thinker. She can write profound stories with important morals, but can also write short fun poems. As a middle child, she tries to stand out in a crowd and create an impact on people's thinking. She believes that if you place your heart in the right place, you can reach the stars.

Muram’s story, ‘Through their eyes’ tells us about environmental destruction and deforestation through the eyes of a small tree, and throws light on how the efforts of concerned individuals often fail to bring about desired change.

Second Prize Winner
Name: Stefania Neacsu
Age: 16 years
Country: Romania
Story Title: 13 PM
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Stephania Neacsu is 16 years old, and her main passions are realistic drawing and painting, video games and the restoration of old buildings and places. She is quite fond of horror and psychological stories and movies as well. She is a calm person in general, but can get really hyperactive sometimes. She is hardworking, and is a perfectionist. She loves making other people laugh, and helps them when they need it.

Stephanie’s story, '13 PM' is set in modern times, and describes how messaging on a smart phone can have psychological effects on a person that can be far-reaching and nerve-racking.

Third Prize Winner
Name: Adarsh Raj Bhatt
Age: 16 years
School: Delhi Public School
Country: India
Story Title: From Peasant To Puissant
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Adarsh Raj Bhatt is studying in the 11th grade of Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram in India. A poet and thinker, he likes to write thought-provoking pieces, and is humbled by classical literature. Inspired by Steve Jobs and Shah Rukh Khan, he is the CEO of a startup. He is disapproving of overpopulation and environmental destruction, and styles slogans like “Save the Earth, it gave you bloody birth.” He aspires to leave a lasting mark on the world, be it through his startup, a book, an invention, or just a ground-breaking idea, of which he seems to have plenty.

Adarsh’s story, ‘From Peasant To Puissant’ is about how a father who lost his family finds meaning in life again, as he willingly owns up another man’s crime so that there is hope of self-transformation and redemption for the real culprit.

Highly Commended
Name: Jayanth Ramganesh
Age: 9 years
School: GEMS Millennium school
Country: Sharjah, UAE
Story Title: Rodent Aboard!
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Jayanth Ramganesh is a Grade 5 student, and is one of the top performers in his class. When he grows up, he wants to be a scientist or an astronaut. His favourite pastime activities are reading books, creative writing and listening to instrumental music. He always likes a good laugh, and hence has a good collection of humorous books in his personal library. He is also a black belt holder in Karate.

Jayanth’s story, ‘Rodent Aboard’ is a humorous story based on an experience on board an aircraft, when a tennis ball is mistaken to be a rat, which results in general confusion, worthy of being reported in the national newspaper.

Highly Commended
Name: Nivedha Vinodh Babu
Age: 8 years
School: Islamic Primary School
Country: Hong Kong
Story Title: Alphabet
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Nivedha Vinodh Babu studies in primary 3, and her hobbies are dancing, writing stories and writing scripts for plays. Her ambition is to be a dance teacher, and she would like to engage with evolving new characters and places from her imagination.

Nivedha’s story, ‘Alphabet’ is about how the letters of the English alphabet play with each other, forming pairs, and thus, words. The letter ‘I’ has a difficult time with playing as a team, but then eventually, it discovers the joy of joining others and creating new words.

Highly Commended
Name: Dhruvika Kumar
Age: 12 years
School: GEMS Our Own English High School
Country: Dubai, UAE
Story Title: The Dancer Who Dreamed
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Dhruvika Kumar loves to read, write and dance! Her inspiration for writing stories developed after reading the famous "Harry Potter" as she admired JK Rowling's writing. She also owes a lot to the amazing stories her father tells her! The story "The dancer who dreamed' which she has written means a lot to her. She enjoyed every second of writing it!! Writing has become her passion as there is no end to it, you can't run out of words or sentences, and you can pour your heart into what you write, which is the beauty of this beautiful skill. Her ambition is to become an International script writer!

Dhruvika’s story, ‘The Dancer Who Dreamed’ is about a girl who went through very difficult times and suffered physical disability, but achieved her dream of taking part in a prestigious dance competition.

Highly Commended
Name: Evangeline Jose
Age: 12 years
School: St. Joseph’s School
Country: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Story Title: A Magical Christmas
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Evangeline Jose is in Grade 8, and her hobbies include reading, writing, drawing and watching TV sitcoms. She also enjoys spending time with family and friends very much. Her inspiration to write comes from the world-famous children’s author, Enid Blyton, whose books she has enjoyed from a very young age. Her ambition in life is to become a designer, as she loves art, and designing new things, very much.

Evangeline’s story, 'A Magical Christmas' describes how David, a young boy, and his family who are very poor, gets to enjoy a magnificent Christmas complete with turkey and plum pudding, thanks to the magic of the Christmas spirit.

Highly Commended
Name: Ujwal Kartik Mantha
Age: 16 years
School: Indus International School Hyderabad (IISH)
Country: India
Story Title: Cornflake
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Ujwal Kartik Mantha is in the eleventh grade and ‘live a life similar to many humans of my age with a few differences here and there’. He reads almost any book he can get his hands on, and “contemplates the scientific principles and the story of the universe, and also draw and write now and then.” He wishes most dearly to spend his life “exploring this strange world, and the world outside our earthly home.” He would like to be a scientist, an astrophysicist in particular. In his words, “The world we live in has an interesting story and I would very much like to read it.”

Ujwal’s story, ‘Cornflake’ is a brief verbal depiction of the life of a cornflake from the time it was in its natural state, to the time when it goes down as food down a human throat. The story is narrated through the point of view of the cornflake itself.

Highly Commended
Name: Michelle Saji Antony
Age: 14 years
School: The Indian School
Country: Bahrain
Story Title: The Serendipitous Cornfields
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Michellle loves reading, especially the thrillers written by Dan Brown, writing, and drawing. She is also a big animal lover. Her ambition is to be either an author, or an archeologist or a lawyer.

Michelle’s story, ‘The Serendipitous Cornfields’ is about how a girl changes her future drastically for the better, once she becomes aware of how certain habits could lead her to suffering and death.