And the winner goes to .....
A 17-year-old student from Triam Udom Suksa has won the 2010/2011 Junior Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand in a contest that saw close to 1,000 Englishlanguage essays submitted.
The awards were announced at a presentation ceremony held last night (September 30) in Bangkok attended by about 150 participants including students from Thai and international schools, teachers, parents and guests. Jo Cummings, author of the Lonely Planet Thailand guidebook, was the keynote speaker.
Sirada Chatikavanij won this year’s contest, in which highschool students submitted essays under the title “One Fine Day...”. She received a grand prize of Bt50,000.
The Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Thailand, now in its seventh year, is supported by the Embassy of Ireland, Property Care Services (Thailand) and Kerry Group. It is organised by The Nation, Nation Junior, the Phuket Gazette and CityLife Chiang Mai. It is open to all Thai students between the ages of 15 and 18.
All the winning essays as well as the final shortlist can be viewed on www.nationmultimedia.con and www.247friend.net.
“Again, the quality of the essays was excellent and there were creative twists in many of them,” said Pana Janviroj, president of The Nation.
“Regrettably, our judge Assoc Prof Prathoomporn Vajrasthira, author and former international relations lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, passed away earlier. She would have been proud of this year’s winners,” said Pana.
The contest’s national judging panel was made up of the Irish ambassador to Thailand; Sirikorn Maneerin, former deputy education minister; Assoc Prof Suchada Nimmannit, former president of Thailand Tesol, the association of teachers of English; Atchara Pradit, head of the Children’s Literature Programme, Faculty of Humanities, Srinakharinwirot University; and Pana.
Sirada was also the winner for the central region, which saw Pachaya Disthaamnarj from Mater Dei Institute as the first runnerup and two second runnersup; Hathaitip Nantiyakul from Concordian International School, Samut Prakan, and Tawan Panpatama from Mahidol Wittayanusorn School. This year, the award committee presented a consolation prize to Prima Ongvises from Concordian International School.
The winner from the northeastern region was Prasert Martyn from Vithes Suksa Bilingual School, with one merit award going to Thapanee Tubnonghee from Benchama Maharat School in Ubon Ratchathani province. The consolation prize went to Kaewjearanai Yangkao from Suranaree Wittaya School in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
The northern and southern winners were announced last month at separate regional awardpresentation ceremonies. Ivalene Laohajaratsang from Chiang Mai International School won the top prize in the North, while Popthum Lawtongkum from British International School, Phuket, won in the South.
“Sirada’s essay reflects a great attitude as a writer and human being. She is openminded and willing to accept that her opinions aren’t necessarily always right,” commented Tulsathit Taptim, editor of The Nation.
