JEDDAH — Writing is an art that is on the verge of becoming extinct and lost forever. Students in most of the schools here in the Kingdom are rarely compelled to write long essays, whether in Arabic or English. Pick a random student and ask them about the different types of essays: narrative, descriptive, persuasive, critical review, or others, and you will very likely get a blank face. Half of the problem is that children are not encouraged to write and the other half is that children these days seldom read books. Reading is to writing what fuel is to trains, and without the former the latter cannot get very far. Sian Harrison, an English language teacher at a local school, said: “Readers make writers and writers make readers and readers make writers; it is an on-going cycle. “And the images and pictures that come to mind while reading an interesting book are far more enjoyable and beautiful than any film you could watch.” For that reason and to bring children back to books and pen and paper, the founders of the women and children's My Library in Al-Rawdah District, announced a story writing contest for children between the ages of 8 and 14, for all members and non-members of the library. To reinforce the old and fond relationship between pen and skillful writer, one of the rules of the contest was that the story had to be handwritten and not typed. “This is the fourth year that we held a writing competition and the idea started of course to encourage children to write. “In today's world with abbreviated writing, tweets, SMS, short comments on Facebook, children and adolescents rarely even write full words and complete sentences. “The skill of writing is actually an Islamic and an Arabic tradition that we must preserve. The Qur'an itself is a series of stories being told and the Arabic literature is rich in great masterpieces such as Aladdin and the 40 thieves, the tale of the 1001 Nights, and many more,” said Sherry Nasseef, director of My Library. Many entries were submitted for the judges to deliberate over and pick the winning stories. The decision was based on story content, spelling, handwriting, correct grammar use, and plot. One of the judges, an English instructor at CBA, Soreya Jamjoom, said: “Reading and evaluating these papers was very different from the type of material that I am used to, but it was a delightful change. “The children wrote lovely stories and some even drew creative illustrations. It was difficult to choose the winning stories but I enjoyed the process of reading them all.” Last week, all young participants and their mothers were invited to attend the awards ceremony, to find out who had written the top four stories, and for each participant to read their story to the audience. “The entries were split into two categories, one for ages 8 to 10 and the other for ages 11 to 14. “All participants will receive a book as a gift from the library. The first, second, and third prize winners from each category will be awarded a one-year free membership at the library, a book, and a cash prize. “These are all incentives for children to read more and to take the time to write and work hard,” said Umayma Asaad, the librarian. Before announcing the winners, Nasseef said: “All of the stories were very good and we congratulate all the children who submitted stories. “Keep writing because maybe one day you will write a book and your book will be on one of the shelves of the library, and boys and girls will come to the library to read it and borrow it.” Benjamin Franklin once said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” There were many inspiring stories that show that the children have great potential. Miral Kurashi, a young girl, wrote a story about recycling and protecting the environment. Joudi Beheiry won the first place among the younger group, and Aya Alzuabi won the first place among the older group. On average, there were more girls who participated in the story writing contest than boys, and the organizers of the contest hope that next year a larger number of children will submit stories.
