Congratulations to AAESS pupils who have been recognised for excellence in writing and were invited to attend an awards ceremony at the UAE University. James Lee Aitken, Tafara Andrew Manzou, Dinuth Abeyratme, Ayah Adem, Samy Takriti, Neftali Tanyongana and Kyle Herselman each received a certificate for ‘Excellence in Writing’ for their creative writing entries.

A huge congratulations goes to Kyle Herselman for being awarded 1^st prize in the senior category for his ‘Equal Parts Light and Dark’ – a piece which, according to the judges, revealed a ‘maturity and creativity beyond his years’. Kyle received a DH1000 prize amongst other rewards.

Another great success was enjoyed by Samy Takriti , who won 3^rd prize in his division. His submission ‘Out in the Cold’, which is written from the perspective of an elderly man reminiscing about his life, earned the Year 10 student the DH500 prize.

The Young Authors’ Competition and Awards Ceremony is a project initiated in 2015 by the English Literature Department at the United Arab Emirates University. The goal of the competition and awards ceremony is to encourage and reward excellence in writing in the primary and secondary years. This is the second year running a student from AAESS has won the senior division, after last year’s winner, Neftali Tanyongana, topped the competition for his submission titled ‘The Crescent Moon’s Song’.

One of being lost. See, the Young Authors Competition was gonna take place at the  United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) at 8:00am, all fine and dandy so far. The only problem was, there were two campuses, we had chosen the wrong one, and the time, was 7:52.

It was because of this fear of being late, as well as the fact that we were all candidates with a chance to win that the bus was overflowing with nervousness. Whilst Kyle and I could contain ours, due to our advanced age (just old enough to drive), the rest of the participants were all from younger years. James Lee Aitken, Tafara Andrew Manzou, Dinuth Abeyratme, Aayah Adem and Samy Takriti were all far less experienced in life than myself, Naftali Tanyongana (former winner),  and my associate, Kyle Herselman. Some were even from primary.

Despite their anxiety, the kids were quite excited for the event, conversing chattily with our supervising teachers, Mr.Poisat and Ms.Ball. Through their guidance we were able to arrive safely at the event. Through the unclear instructions, we were able to arrive late, no so bad seeing as a lot of the other schools were later than  we were, meaning we had time to eat breakfast provided by the Aaylah hotel before attending the ceremony. The very, very long ceremony.

It began with an introduction of judges and sponsors, then crawled slowly ovr to the results. These were ordered from Division A – D, with division A being for 7 -9 year olds. B being for 10 – 12 year olds. C being for 13 – 15 year olds. D being for 16 – 18 year olds. The younger years were introduced first, beginning with division A. Though the primary children wrote well, AAESS did not take any of the top 3 postions for Division A. Division B turned out similarly.

Division C however, brought victory to AAESS, with Samy Takriti taking the 3rd spot. He was interviewed along with the other winners about his story and what went into making it so mature. Samy responded admirably to each question they threw at him. Eventually the 3 winners were dismissed from the stage and were awarded with goody bags, zoo tickets, and vouchers.

Finally came division D. The division that i had won last year and that i would surely win again. Except i didn’t. Division D, first place was taken home by our very own Kyle Herselman, a massive win for AAESS  on his first attempt! I would probably be sour about it had i not witnessed an emotional scene of him embracing his father, a scene that could mellow the hardest of hearts, a scene that mellowed mine. He was invited up to the stage where he went through the same process as Samy, having his story complimented thoroughly.

To end the day, we took a picture to commemorate the 2016 Young Authors’ Awards and were treated with ice cream and snacks by the event managers. The AAESS representatives, both teachers and students, young and old (i consider myself among the young if you were wondering) sat together in a circle to eat, congratulating those who won and condoling those who did not. We then collected our things and darted back to the bus that had taken us, admiring the university and steeling ourselves for our return next year, where we will win.