Grand Prize Winner: WING OF THE LOCUST

About The story

Tuan is uplifted from his mediocrity and homeliness by the tutelage of the Muhen. Tuan is shocked that his apprenticeship requires him mutilate his body to gain power—to see through the eyespots of a moth at the cost of his eye; to inject life-saving venom through the sting of wasps that have eaten his kidney; command locusts that nest in the cavity of his collapsed lung. Then he learns of the craft's applications in espionage, sabotage and assassination. But when his friends are abducted, Tuan must consider giving up his humanity in order to save the ones he loves.

About the Author

Joel Donato Jacob grew up in a garlic farm in Cabuyao, Laguna before moving to Los Baños. In his journey as a writer, Joel has also won Scholastic's "You Write to Me, I Write to You" movement to support aspiring authors in the Philippines. As a winner, his manuscript was chosen for review by publisher Barry Cunningham, famously known for signing J.K. Rowling to publish Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the U.K in 1997. Joel is currently taking up Creative Writing in Filipino in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. His stories and poems may be read in many magazines and journals.

1^st Runner-up: RED EYES

About The story

Eleven-year-old Veer Prann runs away from boarding school to his parents in Suryanagar, a village at the gate to a wildlife sanctuary. When he catches sight of a pair of red eyes in the forest, he is pulled into a world where powerful people are engaged in a silent competition to capture a creature that is rumoured to have an evolutionary advantage over human beings. Veer knows he must save the creature from being captured as a lab specimen or a special attraction at a zoo. The problem is that he does not know how.

About the Author

Varsha Seshan is a children’s author with thirteen books to her credit. She was shortlisted for the 2016 Scholastic Asian Book Award. She enjoys working with children and facilitates workshops both independently and with the British Council. In addition, she conducts a Writers’ Club for pre-teens in Pune.

2^ndRunner-up: BLUE²

About The story

A novel-in-verse set in Hong Kong, the story is about a relentlessly self-disciplined bulimic girl. On the surface, she wants to drop a few kilos. Deep inside, the weight she wants to shed is mammoth: her coming-of-age confusion, her guilt about her brother’s death and the burden of her colonized city being handed back to its motherland. The novel addresses the question of whether she can come to grips with her past and to terms with herself before bulimia kills her.

About the Author

Yuet Lan Dora Tsang is an author and painter by profession, as well as an avid artist and hidden hedonist by nature. She spends a great deal of her time working with children, writing and creating art.