As one of the most prestigious writing contests for Hong Kong students, the Hong Kong Young Writers Awards (since 2010) has a Chinese cultural theme for fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art yearly. Certainly, we seize the opportunity and invite our budding writers to have fun and take part in it. Since joining the game in 2012, we have had the following sparks:
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2024 –
New Tales of China’s Inventions HIGHLY COMMENDED So Yu Hang – Flight Attendant (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) Sprinting across the grass. Letting go. Straining to be free. And falling. I woke up with a splitting headache as if someone was pounding a nail into my head. Immediately I knew something was wrong as I looked around at the walls of gold and the tiles of bronze. If only I were this rich. It was then I realised that I was not alone as I saw a few people in red and white robes who all wore matching pointed military-design boots. I looked down and my casual clothes had morphed into the same outfit, which I guessed was the uniform worn by the Dynastic emperor’s advisors. I was sure this wasn’t 2023, because the price of the palace would have tripled Musk’s fortune. I looked back and saw a glistening throne and on it was an emperor whom I recognised from my history class, bearing the royal crown with dangling spheres on the ends. He was speaking in Mandarin in a way that children would not do when talking to their mothers. ‘If they are really telling the truth and going to tunnel across the land, we have no way of knowing when they will start or where they will be.’ An advisor whose facial features I remembered from my history class, Lu Ban spoke up. He stepped onto the dais and swept his hands up. ‘We should create something to measure the length of both cities to see if they are telling the truth. If the distance is too long, then there is no way of tunnelling over without wasting a great deal of resources. In contrast, if it is short, then they will have numerous ways to come over, thus increasing their chances of winning; therefore we have to be prepared for anything.’ The emperor’s eyes lit up and he nodded satisfactorily and smiled shrewdly. ‘Work with Mo-Tse and create this invention.’ Mo-Tse came forward, bowing low. Lu Ban then spoke up, ‘Your Majesty, this task might be taxing. Please grant my request for three people instead.’ The emperor nodded and pointed straight at me. The emperor exited the room along with the rest of the generals and advisors. Lu Ban shut the door and looked at me skeptically but worriedly, ‘You’ve risen through the ranks quite quickly, boy,’ he said as he joined Mo-Tse on the dais, ‘now is the time to prove yourself.’ ‘Maybe a hot-air balloon?’ I suggested after a minute’s time. It came to my mind on the spot as I was fascinated in a hot-air balloon. ‘“Hot-air balloon”?’ Mo asked. |
Dr Lee and So Yu Hang 6A at the HKYWA Ceremony at Cyberport
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2023 –
New Tales of Judge Pao HIGHLY COMMENDED Zenith Lee – In Good Hands (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) Think of all the people in your life that love to have money and power, the people who want everything at their fingertips, the people who want to be gods. Now go to them and tell them they are making a bad decision in wanting to be a god. Sure, the whole everything-you-could-ever-want thing is nice, but it gets boring. The duties are pretty horrible and the higher-ups are really strict. People who try shirking their duties, which I don’t blame them for, go into the higher-ups’ office and never come out the same way. Rumors fly, but I keep my head down and do my job. * * * This time, I was sent to monitor Pao Zheng. Again. I swear the higher-ups have some kind of vendetta against him, but I wasn’t there to ask questions. I sighed as I let my mind wander free, turning my mental slate blank. The surrounding hustle faded and the colors around me coagulated into a shimmering iridescent sphere, a warping marble before my sealed eyes. Then, I focused hard on the vivid ruby-red walls, on them a painting of the sea and words of justice; the majestic marble lions outside, so lifelike they seemed ready to pounce at a moment’s notice; even the three sacred guillotines, each imposing in their own rights. With a blow of air, the colorful orb scattered, filling my once-blank vision with bright palettes, taking up the empty canvas, spiriting me to somewhere new. Roderick Yuen 6A – Beacon (Poetry Group 2) The emperor’s dragon cloak intimidates me, On my shoulders it rests. I have sworn to preserve justice, Indeed a difficult quest. Fortunately, I am not alone; Aided by an honorable helper: Judge Pao, a selfless man of steel, Fair to every man, aristocrat or retainer. Once a financial officer was murdered, With another put in his place. Judge Pao wasted no time. So as to gather clues, he raced. Inspecting the royal spending report, Which was essential evidence, He saw figures miscalculated. Like a sprout, an idea took residence. Such an elite, experienced officer Would never make so grievous a mistake! Thinking it through, thinking it through, The judge realized that it was faked. Four-two-five-six…What could the numbers mean? Like a bolt of lightning, it struck him. He rushed to the storage rooms, It was all due to a sudden whim! Indeed, there was a message, Patiently waiting for his entry. It was from the financial officer, Probably not incidentally. My brother and his partners Had killed his predecessor. They offered him a fruitful pay Should he slip up to their favor. “Out of righteousness, I refused; They will kill me if they know of this letter. I trust that you will see the law upheld, And punish the conspirators behind the murder.” An astronomical barrage of accusations Overwhelmed the plotters in court. To plead on the grounds of his royalty – the leader’s last resort. Those words were a breeze, Judge Pao an unmoving boulder. Oblivious to my mother’s begging, He gave the bloody order. The dragon’s head guillotine claims a head, The voice of Judge Pao echoes in its might, I gazed out at the silhouette of this dark-skinned man – The Blue Sky’s gleam of justice is bright. |
Roderick Yuen 6A (left) and Zenith Lee 6E at the HKYWA Ceremony at Cyberport
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2021 –
Tales from China’s Magical Mountains HIGHLY COMMENDED Ken Pan 6C – The Phoenix (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) The last silver of golden light faded under the misty mountains of Huangshan. Silvery stars began to appear as the sky began to darken. Its colour changing from a bluish-grey to pitch black. The local farmers had returned home for their dinner, so no one witnessed the peculiar event occurring in the air — stars began to cluster together as if they were pulled in by some unknown force, merging and creating an orb of pure light so bright it resembled the moon. Heavy with stardust, it started descending gracefully down onto the ground, where it was picked up by a gust of wind and landed right on a wooden doorstep of a certain house in the ancient village of Huangshan. |
Ken Pan 6C with Principal Chan (right) and his English teacher Dr Lee (left)
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020 –
Future Adventures of the Greater Bay Area WINNER Jadon Lee 6E – Future Facts of the Greater-Bay-Area (Non-Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area or simply Greater Bay Area (GBA) is a megalopolis, which is the Chinese Government's master plan for Hong Kong, Macau and nine more cities in Guangdong Province, with an arm to build a business and technology hub. The GBA consists of Guangdong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. These eleven cities will establish themselves as key hubs for different sectors: Hong Kong will be the international finance navigation and trade centre as well as a transport hub; Macau will be an international tourism city and a platform for trades with Portuguese speaking countries like Brazil; Guangzhou will take a leading role as an administrative hub while Shenzhen will expand its leading role as a special economic zone and tech hub; Dongguan is transforming itself from the world's factory into more of a high-tech manufacturing base. Other cities in the region will also be involved, with the government already spending billions on massive infrastructure projects. |
Jadon with Principal Chan when the trophy arrived a year later
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2018 –
New Journeys to the West HIGHLY COMMENDED Vincent Song 6C – The Pool's Trial (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) We must be crazy, Monkey King thought. Trekking through the desert for eight days, depending their lives on a single flask. Crazy. Going to the west a second time, just because of Gautama Buddha’s unreasonable orders. Even crazier. More worse, Tripitaka insisted on going there through the desert. That was...dumb. Monkey King secretly wondered if Tripitaka had changed since their first journey to the west, nearly a century ago. Could they still trust each other? “Look!” Pigsy shouted on top of his lungs. “A pool! Finally, an oasis!” The group of four surged forward with burning excitement. They arrived at the pool within minutes. All around the pool, palm trees littered, casting ghostly shadows on the lonely sands. The four friends settled down near it. Amos Tsai 6C – Sun Wukong (Fiction Group 6) (Excerpt) Sun Wukong laid back in his bed of leaves, high up in the trees. He would not have the strength to climb back down-he was now too old for that. Once again he pondered about whether he had made the right decision to give up the immortality granted to him by the Great Buddha. He had wanted to feel life-all its curiosities, the struggling, the joy… not an artificial extended life. But turning back to mortal meant having to cut off his relations to his friends-although they had decided to turn mortal with him, they were forced to separate by the difficulties of mortal life. It also meant having to face death and journeying to the western sky. He was very, very close to death now. |
Vincent Song 6C at the ceremony
6C Amos Tsai (left) and Vincent Song (right) displaying their trophies
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2017 –
New Tales of Old Shanghai HIGHLY COMMENDED Edwin Chan 6B – The New Tale of the Old City of Shanghai (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) “And I just have to add the flux capacitor to the control panel and the time traveler 2000 is completed!” said Lambart. Lambart was a twelve year-old genius. He loved to invent things, and his newest invention, the Time Traveler 2000 stood proudly in his messy laboratory. The Time Traveler 2000 was a time machine that could travel to any time and place on Earth. Lambart was learning about the old City of Shanghai, and he was very eager to see how life was like in the old city of Shanghai. He typed “The Old City of Shanghai” on the control panel and set the year dial to random. He then pressed a red button on the control panel. All of a sudden, the machine started to vibrate, humming with an eerie sound. Then the sound stopped. Both Lambart and the machine had disappeared. The Time Traveler 2000 appeared in a dark alleyway. Lambart checked the year dial. It was the year 1853. Lambart didn’t know what happened in 1853, so he used the time machine’s built-in database to search about what happened. He typed, “The Old City of Shanghai in 1853”. The screen said,” It was the time of the Taiping rebellion. In 1853, The Old City fell into the hands of the Small Swords Society.” Lambart looked around to find out that he was face to face with an old man. The old man said,” What are you doing here, boy? Don’t you know that the Society members will be here any moment? Run!” |
Edwin with his anthology and presents
Edwin on the stage with other awardees
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2016 –
New Tales of the Terracotta Warriors HIGHLY COMMENDED Edmund Wu 6B – The Special Mission (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) Ben worked in the 4th Pit of the Terracotta Warriors. He was an archaeologist’s assistant, but he found the job extremely boring. So, he always sang this song: “If you found something here We’ll go and dig it up When there is treasure down there We’ll get it up for you Then we will dust dust dust the treasure will be kept And the money- cling cling cling rolls into our pockets!” The archaeologist frowned. “Stop singing that tedious song for the infinitith time!” “Okay,” sighed Ben as he turned around and started dusting a warrior model. It was atypically heavy. All of a sudden, the model burst! “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” shrieked the archaeologist in a piercing voice, “YOU’RE—“ Someone came out of the dusty air around the fragments. He was wearing robes of the Emperor—the Qin Dynasty style. He stood and looked at the two. “—not fired,” muttered the archaeologist. “Hello everyone,” greeted the Emperor, “allow me to introduce myself. I am the First Emperor from the Qin Dynasty.” |
Edmund with his certificate and anthology
Edmund at the venue with his father and teacher
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2014 –
New Tales of the Gobi Desert HIGHLY COMMENDED Ocean Huang 6D – The Quest of the Prophecy of Destiny (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) Prologue … “Attack!” he yelled. “And grab everything you can from this caravan!” The three bandits and the camel tribe had a tremendous fight. Galen was fighting with the bandit leader. “Run!” yelled Galen. “Run Sasha!” Sasha was terrified. She wailed at Galen, “What about you?” “I’m fine!” said the tribe leader. “Just take our little Tiglon as you leave…” Just then, a strong wind roared, which flung up the sand with its huge, gigantic paws and finally, sand was blown as high as a mountain; the sky was covered by the sand as the storm roared. Everything vanished in the roar of the sandstorm. The Gobi Desert remained silent… Steve Tang 6E – New Tales of the Gobi Desert (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) Prologue “This is the morning news. A strange and occult phenomenon happened in the Gobi Desert. A 41-year-old archaeologist disappeared under an old Saxaul tree. His collaborator fainted at that moment. This is what he recalled, “At that time, we were dripping all over and almost out of breath by the violent sun. Out of our expectation, we found a verdant tree, we wanted to sit beside it without hesitation. Then, I heard a big bang followed by a loud scream. The archeologist vanished into the thin air and I heard an eerie and cryptic voice which spoke in an alien language.” When the collaborator woke up in the hospital, his body kept trembling. Search teams were sent to search for the archeologist all over the desert, but their effort was in vain. Instead, what they found was the archeologist’s clothes next to the lush green Saxaul tree…” |
Steve Tang 6E (left) & Ocean Huang (right) with their certificates
Our prize winners on stage
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2013 –
New Tales of the Great Wall HIGHLY COMMENDED Ocean Huang 5D – New Tales of the Great Wall (Fiction Group 2) (Excerpt) Chapter 1 Edward Albus Trotter Once upon a time, there was a boy named Edward Albus Trotter. He had big, ocean-blue eyes, deep brown hair and a slim fit figure. He was a brilliant genus. When you stared at him, you might find there was an indistinct blue trident mark on his forehead. Edward lost his father and mother when he was born. He lived with his Uncle’s family in California now. They treated him very well. Many people said that Edward’s parents were killed by illness, but little Edward didn’t believed that. People said that he was ignorant but he knew he was different from the others. Douglas Tsang 5D – Seasons of the Great Wall (Poetry Group 2) Great Wall, a thousand-year-old giant, Built with slabs and stones. Over the years, he lies on the range, Waiting for us to wake him. Great Wall, a colorful scarf, Pretty blossom flourishes everywhere. Birds sing softly there, Awaiting for Spring. Great Wall, a fierce dragon, Fireballs flare far and wide, Where no one wants to climb On it for a summer picnic. Great Wall, a red carpet, Leaves falling leaves flow along. Animals race for autumn food and bed Great Wall witnesses all the rest. Great Wall, a white dragon lies on a castle, Soft snow covers all the squares. In a jiffy, its tail disappears In this winter’s tale. Great Wall, woken up by loud laughter after thousand years, spreads his arms offering a big hug to welcome us. We read his beauty and his story there forever. |
Ocean Huang 5D (left) & Douglas Tsang (right)
Ocean Huang 5D (left) & Douglas Tsang (right) with the anthology containing their work
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Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2012 –
New Tales of the Yangtze River WINNER John Ho 6A – Sam Foy and the Eternal Amulet (Fiction Group 5) (Excerpt) Chapter 1 THE TANGGULA MOUNTAINS An archaeologist walked down the brown painted stairs, he wore rather dirty clothes, and dark brown hair which had not been cut for almost a year, flowed down his head. The dirty poor man walked two steps and made coffee in the kitchen. His house was surprisingly small and full of rubbish: books about the Earth, and nature lay open on his small table. The archaeologist looked at a sauce-covered calendar and said to himself, “A rock mountain to climb this day.” He was fit despite his poverty. Muscles flexed while he wore the expensive climbing gear. He took a booklet full of weird looking words and opened the metal door in front of him. Outside was the famous Yangtze River, not exactly the river but the source, the glaciers of the Tanggula Mountains. The ice cracked while he stood, still looking at his booklet with the weird words. The sparkling ice reflected the sun. High mountains stood still behind the thinking man. The archaeologist closed the book, and on the cover was written ‘Sam Foy’, that was his name. Sam stopped thinking and started to climb the highest mountains of all. The mountain was steep and sharp, every pull made Sam gasp. He climbed until he saw a cave, with ice dangling inside; it was the most frightening cave Sam had ever seen. He checked everywhere while gasping for his breath, collecting rocks. When he had finished, he made sure everything was collected, and ticked his booklet. He cracked his neck and began to hike again. |
John Ho 6A with his trophy
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