Extremely Short Story Competition held at Zayed University

Fifty young Arab authors were recently recognised for their story telling abilities in the first Regional Extremely Short Story Competition held at Zayed University, Dubai campus recently.

"It was so hard writing my 50-word story," said Abu Dhabi Men's College student Ahmad Al Mukhayer, who was among the 50 winners in the first Regional Extremely Short Story Competition (ESSC) award ceremony at Zayed University, Dubai campus.

"It was either too long or too short but I really enjoyed the writing process, which took about two days," the 19-year-old said.

Al Mukhayer's story describes how when he was seven years old, he was nearly attacked by a dog before his father rescued him.

Many of the winners also wrote of their life experiences and matters that were important to them based on the theme "our memories, dreams and futures".

Opinions of the media

Regional prize winner Hassan Yousuf Mohammad from the UAE has a dim view of the role the media currently plays and this is what he wrote about in his 50-word story.

"Newspapers have such negative content. They should be used for a better purpose."

The Higher Colleges of Technology student described the ink on newspapers as "blood" as new stories often dealt with depressing topics of death and destruction. He wrote about the impact that the negative coverage had on readers.

Mohammad submitted three stories, of which one was selected. He said he enjoys writing about nature, war, disasters, people - despite being a business information technology student.

"I will definitely pursue my writing and maybe even do some professional writing," the winner said.

Overwhelming response

More than 1,000 young people from seven countries submitted entries to Zayed University and the British Council that jointly organised the competition. The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority also supported the event.

The finalists were from schools, universities and colleges across the Arabian Peninsula including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen.

The organisers challenged young authors to write a short story, which could be based on fact, fiction, poetry or prose, in 50 words.

Two regional prize winners, Mohammad and Fatima Al Zadjali from the Oman Tourism College, received a creative writing course in the United Kingdom and the other winners will have their stories published in a new anthology of short stories based on the ESSC.

Competition aims

"Our aim with the ESSC is to help inspire and provide a channel for the creative use of English by young national students of the six GCC countries and Yemen," said Regional English Manager for the British Council Middle East, Anne Wiseman.

She said the competition was an "excellent concept" originated in 2003 in the UAE and the British Council hoped to take the competition across the region and beyond.

The ESSC was developed by Peter Hassall at Zayed University in 2003. "The response to the ESSC from young nationals across the region has been very encouraging and the standard of entries for this first regional competition was exceptional," he said.

Winners' efforts

Thoughts of a newspaper

Always the same things over and over. Why can't it change? Ink on me is like blood. I don't get wounded but you still hurt me. You kill a tree to create me and then you kill me again with all the news. Always the worst news as my headlines.

-Hassan Yousuf Mohammad, Higher Colleges of Technology

One last thing

She had only one last day to live. One last day to do whatever she loved or wished before she went and left this world. It took her some time but she finally realised that last thing that she want to do was to give her mother one last kiss.

- Amani Mohammad Al Nahdi, Salama Bint Butti school, Baniya

My dad

Cruising down the street, feeling kind of neat, chewing on my sweet, along comes a dog, looking for a treat, chases me down the street, for a piece of my lean white meat. As I turn around, I hear a funny sound, my father's wrestling a dog to the ground.

- Ahmad Al Mukhayer, Abu Dhabi Men's College