Outstanding Story (Sub-junior) - The Garden Contest

“The Garden Contest” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2019 written by Fatima Abubakar Ahmad, RA International School Bonny, Nigeria.

The Garden Contest

One sunny day, there was a message going all over the town about a garden contest. It got to Iris’ house. Iris told her mum about the contest. Mum asked, “Do you want to join the garden contest?” “Of course I would like to” said Iris in an excited voice, feeling happy that her mum had asked her. Then her mum said that she can go to the garden contest.

Iris started jumping up and down. She ran to her big sister Lyna and asked her for seeds so that she could plant more flowers for her competition entry. The more flowers she has the better her chances of winning. “Of course you can”, said Lyna. Iris ran to the flower pots, she prepared the pots with sand and water and planted the seeds that Lyna gave her. After she finished planting the seeds she heard her mum calling her to get ready for dinner and then go to bed.

After a week, Iris’s friends came. Arianna was so glad to see Iris again. Talia said “It has been a long time since I have seen both of you.” Arianna and Talia asked Iris if she knows about the garden contest “Of course I know about it” Iris said. “You can come and see my flowers.” said Iris. “What?!” shouted Iris when she looked at her plants. It had not grown tall as she expected. She sat down thinking about how to make her plants grow taller.

Talia checked her purse and Arianna also checked her bag properly.

Arianna found a small plastic bag. “Iris!” shouted Arianna, “I have a fast growing seed.” “WOW! May I use it?” Iris asked.

“Yes you can” Arianna replied. So Arianna put some sand, then Iris put the seeds, and lastly, Talia poured some water. Let’s go and help Lyna said Iris. Lyna made some nature bangles for Arianna and Talia and gave it to them. “We love it Lyna! Thanks” Iris and her friends said to Lyna.

On the day of the garden contest, Iris’ plant had grown beautifully but she thought she was going to lose when she saw other people’s plants. She looked nervous and terrified as the winners were announced. But suddenly, they pronounced the winners and they were Talia, Iris and Arianna. They were very happy to win.