MDTimes Short Story competition

Philippines’ Zenon Arthur Siloran Udani, author of “Mommy, come home” won the first prize of the English version of the Short Story competition launched by Macau Daily Times, in a decision voted in a majority by the jury.
First runner-up was 16 year old author Mia Thayer who entered a short-story titled “Silent Cries”. Kit Kellen, with “Denial” placed third in the preferences of the jury.
The jury responsible for the evaluation of the 16 in total entries included David Brookshaw (University of Bristol), Susan Pottier (University of St. Joseph) George Watt (University of Macau), Alexandra Macaulay (The International School of Macau) and Cecilia Jorge (Macau Daily Times).

Chinese language: two awards, two honourable mentions

The jury for the Chinese short story competition decided to give only two awards, though two stories were also singled out for honourable mention.
First prize went to Ms Lao Ka Ian (劉嘉欣) with “生於廝,長於廝,死於廝” ( “Here, where I was born, grew up and die”) and the second was awarded to “遺書” (“Death note”) by Mr. Lei Ion Long (李潤龍).
There was no third prize, but two honourable mentions, foreseen by the competition rules were also decided for “玲玲” (“Ling Ling”) by Mr. U Ngai (余巍), and “吉屋” (“Empty House”) by Ms Cheong Ho I (張可兒).
Jury for the Chinese Short Story contest included Gary Ngai (Fundação Sino-Latina), Han Lili (Macau Polytechnic Institute-IPM), Iris Fan Xing (Author and poet) and Jenny Oliveros Lao Phillips (University of St. Joseph).
A total of seven entries were submitted.

Unanimous choice

Hélder Beja, a journalist from Portuguese daily “Ponto Final” and author of “Fogo Lento” (“Slow fire” or “Simmering”), was the winner chosen by the jury members of the Portuguese Short Story competition.
Voting unanimously of the entire five entries, the jury also chose “O Espírito do Fogo” (“The Spirit of Fire”) by magistrate Jeronimo Gonçalves, as first runner-up and “Voltar” (“To Return”) by Elsa Botão Alves as second runner-up.
Members of the jury for the Portuguese competition were Maria Antónia Espadinha (University of Macau), Ana Paula Dias (Instituto Português do Oriente), Alexandra Domingues (Escola Portuguesa de Macau), Isabel Morais (University of St. Joseph) and Rogério Beltrão Coelho (Macau Daily Times).

Authors and book publication

All entries for the competition were required to be submitted anonymously, identified only with a pseudonym, so as not to influence the members of all three jury’s. The identities of the winners were only revealed after the final decisions and voting were held, and the sealed envelopes were open.
Abiding by the previously published competition rules, MDTimes is publishing the final results of the three Short Stories Competition in today’s edition, in English, Chinese and Portuguese.
More information about the winners will be published in our edition next Monday, June 13.
The prize winning short stories, as already reported, will be translated into the two other languages and compiled to be published in three separate books, in English, Portuguese and Chinese. The launching ceremony is to coincide with the presentation of the awards.
In the meantime, the winning English short stories will be published in the Macau Daily Times. The Portuguese short stories are to be published by Ponto Final.
The first phase of the Short Story Competition is sponsored by the Macau Foundation.

(L-R) Lao Ka Ian (劉嘉欣), Zenon Arthur Siloran Udani, Helder Beja, Lei Ion Long (李潤龍), Mia Thayer, Kit Kellen and Elsa Botão Alves

The massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that took thousands of lives away in Japan on March 11 broke the hearts of many people around the world, and Lao Ka Ian (劉嘉欣) was one of them.
The 29 year old champion of the Chinese-language Short Story Competition was moved to write “生於廝, 長於廝, 死於廝” (“Here, where I was born, grew up and die”) after watching the world media begin to forget and ignore the subsequent and ongoing nuclear crisis.
“I feel the quake victims in Fukushima have been forgotten,” the mother of a three month old girl told the Macau Daily Times.
“And so I wondered, what would happen if a nuclear incident occurred in Macau?” she said.
Reading novels became one of her hobbies in senior high school and from there, she gradually developed the passion to write different kinds of literature from short stories and prose to plays and even lyrics.
As a result, she decided to study in the Department of Chinese while pursuing university education in Taiwan.
As a housewife and part-time marketing officer, Lao says she had participated in writing competitions several times in the past but it’s the first time she’s received an award and taken home the first prize.
“I’m very thrilled. This award is a strong boost and great encouragement for me to continue to write,” she added.
However, Lao agrees that Macau lacks platforms for local young writers to publish their written work, and she says most, including herself, have made use of the Internet and begun their own blogs and post’s regularly.

“遺書” (“Death Note”) won the second prize in the contest. Its author Lei Ion Long (李潤龍) picked up writing about two to three years ago and just like Lao, he chose to study in the Department of Chinese at the University of Macau and pursue his goal to become a full-time writer.
The 22 year old says the news about a local student committing suicide because of a relationship problem was part of the inspiration for his short story. Another came from a friend of his who at the time felt depressed due to family problems.
“Because I also grew up in a special environment I have a lot of feelings when I learn about these types of things or hearing news like that,” the Year 2 student says.
“Macau is dominated by gambling but behind all the glamour, there are many sad things happening,” he adds.
Lei writes mainly prose and short stories about family, ethics, his personal thoughts or things happening around him every day, but it was his first time taking part in a writing competition.

‘I’m very thrilled. This award is a strong boost and great encouragement for me to continue to write’: Lao Ka Ian (劉嘉欣)

He agrees with Lao that there are not many channels in Macau to encourage people with an interest in writing.
“Popular [Chinese-language] newspapers here most of the time only publish written works submitted by university professors or well-known writers,” he says.
In addition, “玲玲” (“Ling Ling”) by U Ngai (余巍) and “吉屋” (“Empty House”) by Cheong Ho I (張可兒) have been given an Honourable Mention by the jury.
U teaches mathematics in a high school and has been writing for his blog for nearly two years now. His short story was based on what he was told by a friend of his, who is also a teacher whose pupils had family and drug problems.
As for Cheong, being an employee in a theatre in the UK, she also loves writing but describes it as a “luxurious hobby” since she has been trying to write as much as she can, though only after work or in her leisure time.
Her short story developed following the passing away of her grandfather and the family discussion afterwards about what to do with the house he left behind (They decided to keep the house finally, a different ending to the story).
“I think relationships in a big Chinese family, especially with our extended family members, are becoming different now. The story, to me, was a journey to explore this issue,” she said.