I hope it makes her happy to know I am continuing the story and plan to write a novel in verse expanding on it."Įdmonton AM 7:13 Edmonton student becomes a national writing challenge winner We speak with 17 year-old Bee Lang about being one of the winners of The First Page contest. Summers shared because she really did understand the message I was trying to convey. "Nothing could make me happier than the kind words Ms. I wanted to show how real and tangible that fear is for people like me. Especially with these past few years and it is down right frightening being a trans person sometimes. Trans people have that happen to them way more often than most people might realize and it's not changing. "I'm non-binary myself and I constantly feel anxious about this exact situation happening. I wrote this piece because I was angry, felt hurt by the world, and most importantly terrified for my future," Lang said. But this means so much more than that now. That it was an honour and that I was very grateful to be chosen. "Honestly if someone had asked me a year ago what winning this would mean to me, I wouldn't have said much. Lang spoke to CBC Books about what it means being chosen as the winner of the First Page.īee Lang is the winner of the First Page student writing challenge in the Grades 10-12 category. Choosing verse was a bold stylistic choice and it was easy to imagine the story continuing and expanding into a series of equally compelling vignettes." One Question is an important and urgent reminder that our future will be defined by many things and how we treat each other is among them. "The further degradation of those rights and the violence it will enable if we continue down that path was expertly rendered by the writing's tight emotional focus, sensory details, and subtle suggestions of its future setting. "I was instantly compelled by the form and intimacy of this first page and how acutely and heartbreakingly the author captures the present day fears of a community whose human rights are increasingly under attack," said Summers. Their entry One Question is about transphobia and violence against trans people. I wrote Where The Maple Leaf Grows as a tribute to family, community, and sustainability."īee Lang, 17, a student at McNally High School in Edmonton, is the winner in the Grades 10 to 12 category. Summers' comment captured the intention of my writing, which was to imagine a brighter tomorrow filled with hope. I am thrilled that my story resonated with esteemed judges like Courtney Summers," said Yiouroukis in an email to CBC Books. "I am deeply honoured to have been selected for The First Page writing challenge. Yiouroukis is the winner of the 2023 First Page student writing challenge in the Grades 7-9 category. Yiouroukis spoke about injecting hope into his entry.Ĭhristian A. In few words, it gave readers a vision of a future we should work to make happen, rather than prevent from happening - I wanted to spend more time in it." The active and engaging voice paints a world that is very tantalizing in its hope. The story immediately transports us into one family's life as they prepare for a community feast. "While that perspective is absolutely valuable, what I loved about Where the Maple Leaf Grows was how deeply entrenched it was in optimism and how beautifully expressed that optimism was through the author's clever framing. "It's reasonable for a young writer's anxiety and concerns over the future to reflect in stories presenting a worst case scenario - often those that showcase the catastrophic consequences of our reckless abuses of this planet and its vital, natural resources," said Summers. The story is about climate change and Indigenous reconciliation. Yiouroukis, 12, a student at in Oshawa, Ont., is the winner in the Grades 7 to 9 Category for his entry Where the Maple Leaf Grows. The 22 finalists and eventual winners were chosen from over 1,200 entries by a team of readers made up of YA and middle-grade authors from across Canada.īestselling YA writer Courtney Summers selected the winners from two shortlists curated by the readers.Ĭhristian A. Students imagined how current affairs events and trends - from the ethics of artificial intelligence to climate change and genetic editing - have played out in the year 2173. Yiouroukis, and Edmonton's Bee Lang have won the 2023 First Page student writing challenge, a national speculative fiction writing competition for Grades 7 to 12 students in Canada.
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