Good News from Our Writers!

5/21/2021

[22 May] Congratulations to the following awardees for English writing!

Ken Pan with his certificate

In the prestigious writing competition, " Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2021 ", Ken Pan 6C is granted a Highly Commended Award for his work under the set theme Tales from China's Magical Mountains. His work will be published in the anthology to be produced by the organizer. We have been having some remarkable results ever since we first joined this competition a decade ago. Click here to see our boys' success so far.

(From left) Marcus Tsang, Dr Lee and Aden Su with their trophies

In the new writing competition, "My 2021 Essay Contest" (Superior Culture), Marcus Tsang 6D and Aden Su 6E entered their reflective essays and both earned a Gold Award (scored 90+) in the Primary School section whilst their teacher Dr Lee also received the same prize in the Open Group. Their work will be published in the FLAME Magazine in due course.

4 Comments

Marcus Tsang

5/22/2021 12:24:00 pm

Congratulations to Dr Lee & Aden Su! I feel ecstatic after getting the prize. I never thought I would have any chance of getting a prize in a writing competition. I am so surprised. I would like to thank Dr Lee for giving me this learning opportunity and for his thoughtful comments.

I have learnt from my teacher in writing and can be summarised in the word DRAFT:
Step 1: Draft. Plan and write the ideas first.
Step 2: Rewrite. Rewrite things that are not clear and concise.
Step 3: Adjectives. Find better words to describe.
Step 4: Fix. Fix any grammatical issues with your writing.
Step 5:Trite? Find too often expressed contents. Is there another way to write more creatively and beautifully?

I enjoy reading articles from English departments where I can learn a lot from the wonderful writings of others. It gives me inspirations to write. It's my honour to leave a trace on the English department website. This is surely one of my best memories in 2021!

Ken Pan

5/22/2021 01:25:20 pm

Again, like Marcus said, congratulations to everyone! It is my honour to have won this prize in such a prestigious competition. Special thanks to Dr. Lee for revising my drafts along the way. Here listed below are some tips collected from my experience in writing.

1. When writing, it is important to determine to use which of two methods-- Maping out everything in your story (plot, characters, setting etc.), or just sit down, be spontaneous and write whatever comes to mind, starting with the slightest germ of an idea. I usually do the latter.
2. While writing, you might need some help expressing/beautifying the ideas/descriptions you have in mind. Technology is already getting more and more advanced as we speak, so why not use it to our advantage? I'm sure everyone reading this has to have access to some sort of smart device...right? Use Google to look up facts to make your story/essay more convincing and authentic, and Thesaurus for synonyms to brighten up your sentences.
3. When you're finished with your story, scan through it for potential errors, grammatical mistakes, or sentenses you aren't pleased with. Come up with a second draft. After that, make a third. Continue until your story is near-perfection. As Dr. Lee always says, 'Never be pleased with your first draft.'

And... I think that's about it! Hope this helped you clear things up a bit and inspire to write better. Bye!

5/22/2021 01:30:49 pm

Oh yeah, almost forgot, read more English material (e.g. Poems, novels, blogs, even English newspapers)! It helps improve your fluency in English and might influence you to write in similar styles.

Aden Su

5/22/2021 04:18:13 pm

Congrats to Marcus, Ken and Dr Lee. Since Ken said to read more English material, I would actually like to read Dr Lee's writing if possible.

I learned a lot through this competition, and I wish to thank Dr Lee for helping me with this writing, as it was quite difficult. I in fact did what Ken had and just stated: Write whatever comes to mind. This may not seem very sophisticated, but that's where second and third drafts come in. I'm not saying brainstorms aren't useful, but keep it simpler. More of a reminder to what your idea is so you don't go off topic. It's also a simpler way of life and allows you to be more creative.

I also have a few steps when it comes to my writing, just not as complex as Marcus's. No, I did not come up with an acronym for them.

1: Think up a clear idea for your writing. Don't stray from your topic once you've chosen it. That's something I often do and it can confuse readers.

2: Put it on paper. Don't worry if it's not good at first. You'll have time for that later. Just express yourself and don't hold anything back.

3: Proofreading. This is the most torturous step for me, because it's easy to miss things. This step usually keeps me up late.Once, I nearly had to drink coffee to stay awake. Thank goodness I didn't. Caffeine is a drug so stay away from the espresso.

4: Rewrite. By this point, you should have read over your draft at least once and have some ideas for improvement. Redo steps 3 and 4 until satisfaction. If possible, look through a dictionary for better adjectives. Don't over-complicate sentences either.

5: Read it out loud. If possible to family or friends. They may also have some ideas or catch grammatical errors you missed.

I hope my writing tips can help you too, and again, congrats to Dr Lee, Ken and Marcus for their outstanding performances. You know what? My 2021 wasn't too bad after all! OK, bye!

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