In order to provide a creative outlet for students to deal with their emotions related to Corona and the renewed home schooling period after the autumn holiday, the English teachers of the upper classes of Zwettl Grammar School announced a writing challenge at the beginning of November. Soon we found a partner who wanted to reward the successful students and, therefore, we want to thank Franz Eigl GmbH at this point for sponsoring book vouchers from Mr. Grohmann’s book shop in Zwettl.
When texts started to come in, we were thrilled by the awesome contributions and, therefore, are now more than happy to present the winners of the challenge here.
The first category to display is the Rookie of the Year which was awarded to the best entry of our 5th graders. Anna Kellner convinced the jury with the following text:
My mother once said to me, “You can’t change everything but you can try to make the best out of it.” And that´s what I’m trying right now. I do things I never thought I would ever do. For example: At the moment I´m reading five books at the same time.
But one good thing is that now I have enough time to get to know myself better. And sometimes I´m surprised how little I´ve known myself. So I guess every problem gives us a chance to grow beyond ourselves.
The older students then competed in the categories prose, poetry and song. And the next winner to be presented is Alexander Beljkas who succeeded in PROSE with the following entry:
Never before in our history has there ever been a situation comparable to the one we find ourselves in today. Of course, deadly diseases have come and gone, and the world has had worse crisis. But something about this is special; never has the world been more connected yet divided. Both in societal and personal ways. Different languages, ethnicities and religions all coexist in close proximity to each other; yet meeting someone in person is still out of question for many. Although we stand unified against this virus, we also have to stay away from each other. A modern paradox.
The category POETRY was won by Ines Bruckner and her highly skilfully written poem dealing with the shutdown:
Shut me down
I feel like I am trapped in a cage
Filled with sadness, depression and rage
I miss more than one friend
When will this nightmare finally end?
My head and environment is a mess
School pushing further with stress
Fear of failure is all around
This anxiety chains me to the ground
There are so many rules that restrict
Am I a criminal and this my verdict?
But I stay silent, don’t say
Wanting everyone to live another day
So I am pausing my life
Trying my best to survive
While asking: am I still alive?
Finally, the last category to be presented is SONG. Here Maxime Lugauer and Fiona Bayer convinced the jury particularly with their Christmassy Covid hit “Covid Navidad”. And naturally we want to share it with you. So click the link below, sing along and a very merry Christmas from the English team of Zwettl Grammar School!!!
Covid Navidad, Covid Navidad, Covid Navidad this year Christmas is gonna be hard, I wanna wish you no infection, I wanna wish you no infection, I wanna wish you no infection and if so with soft symptoms
PS: We don’t want to withhold their other two contributions!
Head & Heart- Joel Corry x MNEK (min 0:08-0:23)
Omg Omg, we`re in lockdown again, this better be the final one, this better be the end. Omg omg I need to see my friends, but I guess it`s Netflix and hopping on the trends.
Lovely-Billie Eilish (min 0:55-1:19)
Oh, I hope someday covid will go away and the world will change back to the glory days. Isn`t it scary, Corona, we`ll be waiting till it´s over.
PPS: Thanks to all students who handed in a text – it’s great that you went the extra mile. For everyone, there might be another chance next year 😉