A POWERFUL and poignant short story of a cancer survivor’s latest diagnosis, inspired by a true event, overwhelmed the judges of the GDNlife short story competition.
The Actress by Dr Sunil J Rao focuses on a mother’s love in extraordinary circumstances and after wiping away the tears, more than 1,100 viewers on our social media platform will no doubt agree he’s a worthy winner of the BD25 monthly adult contest prize.
“Unequivocally, a superb little story!” said judge Rohini Sunderam, from Bahrain Writers Circle. “A short, emotional story so well told it brought tears to my eyes.”
Dr Rao, 49, a specialist physician and father of two teenage children, who lives with his family in Bu Ashira, said he was delighted to have been chosen for the accolade.
“The Actress is based on a true story of a patient I treated, who has unfortunately passed away from breast cancer,” he revealed.
The Indian expatriate who has lived and worked in Bahrain since 2002 said his contest success has inspired him to continue his writing and he hopes to share even more stories on GDNlife in the coming weeks.
Ann Maria Thomson, 17, our U18 winner for January, is celebrating a hat-trick of victories in the competition and walks away with a pair of Cineco Cinema tickets for her entry entitled Losing a Tooth.
The tale captures the dreamy adventures of a child who meets the Tooth Fairy and it has already attracted nearly 3,000 views.
Judge Chris Fenton, head teacher of the British Primary Department at Al Noor International School, said: “What an original creative idea, Ann Maria. I loved how you contrasted the drama of having your tooth pulled out with the fantasy of Tooth World. An endearing tale, very well done!”
The Asian School Bahrain student lives with her parents and two brothers in Salmaniya and, as well as writing, she enjoys watching movies, public speaking and reading books.
“This is my third victory and I am so happy to be the winner again,” she said. “Thank you for judging me as the winner. This platform has always motivated me to experiment with different genres of stories.
“I thank the organising team, judges and, most importantly, the readers.
“One day I was reading a post which was titled ‘Things we believed as kids’. While the post did not actually talk about the tooth fairy, I used to believe it when I was a child. Reminiscing about that old childhood fantasy, I wrote the story.”
- February entries are invited, so get writing up to 800 words today! Register, choose an image, create a title, paste and copy your words in text – and submit to share your work on www.gdnlife.com – clearly stating Adult or U18 entry.
Our panel of judges will also shortly decide on who should walk away with the annual
GDNLife Short Story of the Year prize plaques in both categories after the competition’s third anniversary in March.
The winner of the GDNLife People’s Choice Award – the short story that has received the most views and likes – will also be announced.
Join the many keen writers of all ages who are being offered the chance to publish their work on Bahrain’s popular social media platform for a monthly prize.
