The annual Short Story Competition organised by Gibraltar Cultural Services on behalf of the Ministry for Culture in conjunction with the Gibraltar Chronicle attracted a total of 350 entries from children in School Years 4 to 13 and adults. The Minister for Culture, the Hon Prof. John Cortes presented the awards on Thursday 11th June 2020 at 4.30pm at the John Mackintosh Hall.
A panel of judges composed of Mr Charles Durante and Mr Giordano Durante judged the competition.
The Prize Winners are:
Overall winner of the Ministry of Culture Award: Elena Scialtiel – ‘The Passion of Hristós’
Adult Category
Winner: Elena Scialtiel – ‘The Passion of Hristós’ Runner-up: Rebecca Calderon – ‘La Charlotte de L’Isle’
Highly Commended – Jon Reyes – ‘The Right Chemistry’
Years 11/13 Category
Winner: David Lester – ‘Living the Dream’
Runner-up: Alexandra Lester – ‘A Day at the Circus’ Highly Commended: Lucy Nicholls – ‘The Return’
Years 8/10 Category
Winner: Morgane Jacobs – ‘They Don’t Listen’ Runner-up: Anna Sanguinetti – ‘Airplane Mode’
Highly Commended: Liam Almeida – ‘SJ’s Tales from Abroad’
Years 6/7 Category
Winner: Louis Pitto – ‘New Home’
Runner-up: Siddharth Lakhiani – ‘Dinosaur Chase’ Highly Commended: Isabella Weir – ‘Felicity’
Years 4/5 Category
Winner: Eve Rodriguez – ‘It’s Tough Being a Virus’
Runner-up: Darcey Evans-Cassano – ‘Felipe the Frazzled Flamingo’ Highly Commended: Dexter Murphy – ‘The Birthday Balloon’
Spanish Category
Winner: Samuel Baena Sánchez – ‘Dolores’ Runner-up: Vanda Adrienn Szilagyi – ‘Mi Carta’
The Minister of Culture Prof. Dr John Cortes commented:
“The Ministry for Culture, through GCS, continues in its work to promote Culture and so develop and enrich Gibraltar’s identity. This Short Story competition encourages young and old to contribute to this. I am very pleased that we have had so many entries, which proves the popularity of the written word as a form of expression for all ages”.
Gibraltar Cultural Services would like to thank all the participants for their support.