A young Filipino was hailed as the winner of one of Emirates Festival of Literature’s competition that focuses on the talent of emerging story writers in the country.
Charles Samuel Vitug, a 14-year-old Filipino, won first place at the Oxford University Press Story Writing Competition for 2021 for the 12-14 year old age group for his piece titled “”.
The teenager shared that he came up with the story from his own experience of experiencing a writer’s block, and how he managed to overcome the challenge.
“I wrote my story out of my own lack of inspiration. I wondered about how I could transform the narrative in a way that no one would have thought of before. It was extra hard as it was my first time writing a short story in a very long time. Its premise was of a young writer who couldn’t conjure an original idea, let alone flesh it out into a short story. He eventually manages to find inspiration through his surroundings, his past experiences, and most importantly, himself,” said Charles.
Kathy Hoopmann, one of the judges in the said competition, commended Charles’ creativity when he wrote about one of the top struggles of many writers, citing that the piece was inventive and enjoyable at the same time. She furthered that Charles’ work as among those who came on top from over 3000 entries, 1000 of which were Arabic.
“A story about a boy with writers’ block writing a story – how clever is that! Every author relates to the frustation when the words will not flow. And every author knows that the ending will only come when they confront their blank page and challenge themselves , “What will the story look like if I finish this?” An inventive, well written and enjoyable story,” said Hoopman.
Catherine, mother of Charles, shares that she was exhilarated when her son was called up on the stage sharing that she had always believed in his capability to churn out a well-crafted story.
“I felt so happy that he won first place in his age bracket which is for 12-14 year old, because this is his first time to join a story writing competition. We are so proud, because it’s like representing the Philippines here in UAE. To my son Charles, I hope this is not the last time. I hope that this experience will inspire you more to write and believe in yourself. We are proud of you!,” said Catherine.
Charles hopes that his win will be an inspiration for young fellow Filipinos as he himself wishes to explore more of the wonders of writing stories.
“Read a lot. Read everything you can read. Read the good, the bad, and everything in between. Learn how to recognize what makes stories enjoyable, and what makes them not. Most importantly, take your time, it took me an entire day just to write 960 words. Diamonds may be formed under pressure, but dough rises when you let it rest. Don’t worry if it seems like your skill is lacking, you CAN improve,” said Charles.
