“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start.” Words of Charles Bukowski, one of the most significant writers of contemporary American literature. The writing competition has been a yearly event for AES, and had become a medium for those with immense artistic prowess to visualise, and show-off their abilities and versatility to create an argument and perspective that is fresh and appealing to the readers.
The event started off in the afternoon, simultaneously held with the Elocution Competition, spearheaded by the Einstein Circle Chronicles. Faiqah Azia Malendo, the Computer Technology Wizards, gave her opening remarks to finally kick off the writing competition. Each of the five divisions was given a unique theme and type of writing. The Beginners Division was assigned with the theme of ‘My Garden’ and paragraph copying as the type of writing; ‘My Family’ was the selected theme for the essay writing of the Primary Division; and ‘About Sir Ed’ was the choice for the Intermediate Division and feature writing was their essay style; while the Junior Division was assigned the expository writing, with the school’s motto—“mens sana en corpore sano”—as their theme; and finally the Senior Division had the topic of ‘AES Online Class’ for the philosophical essays they were tasked to make.
In everything that we do, we must give our best; and it has been evident that the competitors who chose the path of literature had given their all to evolve and be the best version of themselves. Yet, in everything, there will be moments where some shine more than the rest. In the Beginners Division, Amir Nur, from the Kinder PM, found himself at 3rd place; Nazli Oyod, from the Kinder PM, came 2nd place; and Zar Sambarani, hailing from the Kinder PM, was crowned champion.
The Primary Division then had Norshana Sulaik from the Grade 1 -Freedom, came in at 3rd place; Gibril Lanticse of the Grade 2 - Diligence, as 2nd place; and Mica Escander from the Grade 3 - Pulchritude, at 1st place. In the Intermediate Division, Obaid H. Usop of Grade 6 - Justice was named 2nd runner-up, whilst Misha Candao from the Grade 6 - Justice, was awarded 1st runner-up; and Madeeha Maniri, hailing from the Grade 5 - Knowledge, caught gold. Moving up to the Junior Division, the Grade 9 - Glory’s Mohammad Abas entered at 3rd place; and Akhil Montero of the Grade 8 - Fealty at 2nd; while Cerynea Aquino left her opponents as she achieved undisputed gold. Finally the Senior Division finished with a close gap, as Chyl Paolo Ubas came in short with 2nd runner-up; Icey Claire Tocao reaching silver as 1st Runner-Up; and Francis Ang as champion of the division.
With that said, we can clearly conclude that the competitors undoubtably gave their all; yet some may have fallen short, while some rose to the occasion, and truly showed their all. Let it be said that competition should be seen as an opportunity, and a platform to test the abilities of the competitors. Losing and winning are just bonuses, use the wisdom gained from experience to be BETTER. Keep moving, keep learning, and keep on writing!
