9-year-olds win writing contest

A trio of nine-year-old boys have become the youngest contestants to win the annual Budding Writers Competition, now in its ninth year.

Lucas Foo Jun Wei, Aw Khai Loong and Andre Aw De Quan from Yangzheng Primary School wrote The Carboxy War, an environment-themed tale about the fates of two empires called Oxy and Carbon.

In Oxy, life is simple, thanks to Generals Hydro, Solar and Wind. But in Carbon, life is hard due to pollutants led by Commander Plastic.

The 20-page book, illustrated by the boys, will be published and sold at $8.90 each at major bookstores from Monday. The boys will receive royalties of 8 per cent from the sale of the books. They will donate a part of the royalties to charity.

Organised by local publishing house Marshall Cavendish, the competition aims to promote works for children by children.

Shane Armstrong, senior group publisher and head of Marshall Cavendish Publishing Group, told Life! the boys won because their entry displayed a strong environmental message and their illustrations were both creative and powerful. The boys say the story and characters in the book were inspired by the classic sci-fi movie Star Wars. Lucas says: 'I think it's very cool that I wrote a book.'

The competition awards two winners every year. The other winning entry is Power, another environment-themed book by 13-year-olds Jia Qi and Clarissa Chan from River Valley High School.

The book revolves around what man has done to exploit natural resources for his own benefit and the repercussions.

Jia Qi says: 'I had no idea I would win, I love writing and just tried my luck.'

The competition is open to all primary and secondary school students in Singapore. Topics are not confined to any theme, but the reading level of all stories must be suitable for those aged below 14.

Besides receiving royalties for their books, the five winners will also undergo a one-week attachment at Marshall Cavendish where they will learn about the process of publishing a book, from editing, book design and illustration, to printing and marketing.

The young authors will be honoured at an award ceremony and book launch at the National Museum of Singapore on Monday. The guest of honour is Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.

Both books will be available at major bookstores by Monday at $8.90 each.