A changing world - vinderne
Kære lærere og elever
Vi har nu omsider udpeget den bedste novelle og det bedste digt samt de to tekster, som kom på andenpladsen. Det var en svær opgave, for vi var imponerede over de mange gode tekster, som vi modtog. I alt modtog vi næsten 150 bidrag, og mindst lige så mange har deltaget i konkurrencen i alt.
Stort tillykke til vinderne af konkurrencen, som blev:
Novelle:
1. plads: ”When The Rain Is Gone,” Laura Magdalene Vetterslev Clasen, Syddjurs Gymnasium læs den her
2. plads: ”Entertainment Comes With A Price,” Agnete Vestergaard Høyer, Niels Brock, DGI læs den her
”I Am Machine” Noah Lloyd Robson, Niels Brock DGI læs den her
Digt:
- plads: ”Why The Willow Weeps,” Marie Louise Englyst, Favrskov Gymnasium læs den her
- Plads: ”Company,” Tsvetina Simeonova, Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole læs den her
Et stort tillykke til de fem vindere. Efter sommerferien vil vi fremsende præmier til vinderne.
Vi kan allerede nu løfte sløret for at konkurrencen vender tilbage næste år – muligvis i et lidt andet format.
Endnu engang tillykke til vinderne.
God sommer – på juryen og foreningens vegne
Bodil Aase Frandsen Schmidt
Om de vindende tekster skriver juryen:
2023 Changing World Contest Winners
All of the winning entries went beyond ordinary, expected topics and treatments of the contest theme. They were notable for confident and precise use of language and technical elements of story and poetic line. Both of the winning poems made use of typographical razzle-dazzle, but not in a gratuitous attention-getting way. The winning short story was notable for its immersive voice and its cohesive ability to connect theme with plot and character, macro with micro.
Prior to publication, the judges would like the winning fiction entries to be edited for accuracy of diction and correct spelling.
Winning fiction entry number: 131
“When the Rain is Gone”-- Laura Magdalene Vetterslev Clasen
The main character in this year’s winning story leaves her ancestral olive oil farm and joins an environmental movement in Madrid. The poetic title, the amount of detail, description, vocabulary, and scenery creates a believable, somewhat Gothic, atmosphere. The writer has chosen a setting that’s less familiar. From the very first sentences the judges had a sense that they could trust the story and the writer, that they were in good hands to read on, that the writer enjoys stories and writing.
In terms of technical elements, the pacing is smooth as tension builds along with the character’s motivation and mistakes. The dialogue is natural, not strained. It works because it doesn’t take over, and is an organic part of the story flow. The writer’s syntax is expecially notable, with well-executed variation between full sentences and phrases.
The changing world as both theme and reality is strongly expressed through the eyes of a young person. That the story ended in hope was quite nice and almost unique among contest entries.
Runner-up fiction entry number: 56
“Entertainment Comes With a Price”-- Agnete Vestergaard Høyer
This story about a daughter, caught up in on-screen life until a traumatic interruption breaks her away, is tied for fiction runner-up. It features a tightly-written easy flow of prose. Though a little overdeveloped in the first two-thirds and somewhat thin in the last, there is a consistent and interesting level of detail, in for example, the making of a meal, and convincing description of scenery, a thing young writers can struggle with. The judges liked the writer’s use of a first-person narrator, a difficult discipline. The pacing was uneven and the writer left a large number of errors in diction, but there was a good level of skill in bringing the contest theme to the personal level of one young person, one relationship, and one event.
Runner-up fiction entry number: 116
”I am Machine” -- Noah Lloyd Robson
This short story, tied for contest runner-up, does an especially good job of character development in the awakening of an AI entity with lots of feelings, or at least opinions—the ultimate hacker. The judges noted the writer’s skill in shaping a believable POV, precise technical detail about AI, and a strong, clear voice with good use of language and vocabulary throughout. The technology-takeover premise, though unoriginal, clearly addresses the contest theme, and while the plot rings a little hollow and underdeveloped at the end, the overall building of narrative was inventive and felt plausible, as though an AI entity would reason in this way.
Winning poetry entry number: 43
”Why the Willow Weeps” -- Marie Louise Englyst
The winning poem demonstrated especially strong use of language within an inventive form on the page, both integrated into a satisfying and successful whole. The use of visual elements had a point to it that advanced the poem’s logic regarding the changing world of nature in a narrative situation that follows the lifespan of a single, anthropomorphized willow tree. The judges noted that the writer’s diction, in imaginative word choices and combinations, as well as in the use of repeating sounds, works well alongside focused, well thought-out imagery to hold the poem together through its changing stanza forms.
Runner-up poetry entry number: 59
”Company” -- Tsvetina Simeonova
This year’s runner-up poem starts with a classic poetic form and almost trite rhyme and imagery, then becomes more and more illustrative as line and word forms break down. While the ostensible theme of the poem is humanity’s struggle with capitalism, the typographical play with form shapes a meta-treatment of the theme in language itself. The novel typography carries part of the poem’s meaning and compliments the verbal transition from I to we.
