www.phuketgazette.net
Feb. 13, 2007
BANGKOK (Nation): Waranya Nawaluck has taken her personal experience from the 2004 tsunami and turned it into opportunity. The 17-year-old Kathu Wittaya School student yesterday was awarded the National 3rd Annual Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Thailand. The theme for the essay was “A Tale of Thai Grace and Compassion”.
K. Waranya’s essay revolves around the impact that the disaster had. One of the judges, Suchada Nimmanit, said the strength of Waranya’s essay was her choice of words and the simple metaphors she employed.
“These metaphors recreate the vivid pictures of the massive destruction. Despite minor grammatical inaccuracies, Waranya conveys in her writing her memories of the massive destruction of the tsunami, the contrast between the moment of joy and fear, and finally, the compassion and the gracefulness of the Thai and international volunteers who helped with the mental recovery of the survivors,” said K. Suchada.
As the national winner, Waranya will travel to Dublin accompanied by a parent where she will attend the Senior International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards ceremony.
The grand awards function, which was held at Conrad Bangkok Hotel, attracted more than 150 distinguished guests including educators, academics, students with their parents, authors and other keen promoters of creative writing. The event featured the keynote speech by noted author and poet Khunying Chamnongsri L Rutnin Hanchanlash.
Divided into national and regional categories, this year’s contest was open to Thai students in the Kingdom aged 14 to 18. Entries were essays in English, between 800 and 1,200 words in length.
Presented annually with the goal of promoting excellence in creative writing, the 3rd Annual Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand are sponsored by international productivity consultant IMPAC, Enterprise Ireland, The Embassy of Ireland, The Nation, Citylife in Chiang Mai and the Phuket Gazette.
Editor’s Note:
A young poet and writer from Connecticut will join Waranya Nawaluk in Dublin this June.
They will be the state champions in poetry and prose in the 10th annual competition sponsored by the IMPAC-Connecticut State University Young Writers Trust.
About 3,500 young writers have competed in the IMPAC-CSU program, which has awarded more than $135,000 since 1998.
Poets and writers in each of Connecticut's eight counties win $1,000 prizes, awarded during ceremonies this spring at the four CSU campuses in Willimantic, New Haven, New Britain and Danbury. The top poet and writer from that set of winners each earn a trip to Dublin with a parent for the presentation of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Dublin Writers Festival and related activities. Statewide poetry and prose champions will be announced during the annual dinner in June 2007 at the Litchfield Inn.
IMPAC, a leading productivity firm, also endows the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, which at 100,000 Euros is the world's largest prize for a single work of fiction.
IMPAC Chairman Jim Irwin and retired CSU Chancellor Bill Cibes expanded the Young Writers Program from Litchfield County to cover the entire state in 2000. Chancellor David Carter, formerly president of Eastern Connecticut State University, has been a champion for the program and has undertaken initiatives to expand participation.
The CSU System serves more than 35,000 students, making it the largest public university system in Connecticut. A total of 166 academic programs are offered throughout the system, and more than 5,000 degrees are awarded annually.
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