The Hottest New Writers At UniHigh
BY MADELEINE BECK
On Thursday the 10th of August, the finalists of the year 10 Literature classes’ Short Story Competition met to discover the winner of the much coveted prize; A $30 Readings™️ voucher. Judged by an illustrious author, Hilary Rogers, ten of the brightest students of the Literature classes waited with bated breath for the victor of this fierce competition to finally be announced. Because the literature teachers enjoy our prolonged suffering, the winners could not immediately be announced, of course. Instead, they tried to soften the blow with cake and coffee. However, instead of making us feel more at ease, this only heightened the already Mt. Everest-sized tension hanging in the room. Friends became enemies, whilst animosity-filled glances were exchanged over slices of sponge cake. Many topics were discussed, the subject of writing a common theme among them.
As the morning progressed, the friction and enmity only increased, the air becoming almost suffocating between these prospective writers. The answer to the question they’d all been waiting for was so close, almost enough to reach, yet just out of their grasp as they were trapped in a seemingly endless tea party. Before long, the time finally arrived. The question they had all been waiting for was about to be answered: who would win this deadly competition, and who would return home a loser, bringing shame upon them and their family? But before the fatal question could be answered, the two runner-ups had to be announced. The anticipation was rising between our fated competitors, but it was time to put an end to the suspense as the results were finally shown. The two runner-ups were revealed to be Arlo Jack from 10J3 with Shattered Dreams, and Ana Mihalic Tynan from 10J3 with Cro School. Now there was only one matter left to settle, the final announcement; the true champion of the elusive year 10 literature competition. In first place was Tadala Nkhoma from 10C3 with The Game, receiving the 30-dollar Readings voucher.
The other 7 finalists were Yvette Eisen McBryde from 10C1 with The Path of Old Gravestones, Jiayu Kok from 10G3 with The Clock of Life, Melinda Wang from 10J3 with Untitled, Emelie Ang from 10J3 with The Wok, Madeleine Beck from 10J3 with A World Without Colours, Zahra Graydon from 10J3 with Untitled and Amelie Pepyat from 10G2 with Untitled.
Well done to all the participants! You can read their short stories below.
’The Game’ - Tadala Nkhoma 10C3
‘Cro School’ - Ana Mihalic Tynan
‘Shattered Dreams’ - Arlo Jack
‘The Clock of Life’ - Jiayu Kok
‘A World Without Colours’ - Madeleine Beck
‘The Path of Old Gravestones’ - Yvette Eisen McBryde