Once upon a time...

By Maite Vermeulen - Young Writers Award 2005 winner

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Once upon a time there was a girl that dreamed of being a writer…that girl was me. And with entering the BBC Young Writer Competition I got much closer to that goal than I expected. I actually was a writer for a moment!

When my teacher first told me about the BBC Awards, I was quite sceptical. I thought like a real teenager does: "Yeah, I'm not going to waste my time writing a story, when I can hang out with friends instead!" But my teacher insisted that I'd join (bless her), so I sat down at my computer, and started writing about something I saw on TV. A little boy, struck by the tsunami in Asia, sprang to life as I was writing…

Then, months later, my mother phoned me, totally hysterical. "Maite, Maite, guess who left a message on our voicemail! It was your English teacher! (Oh gosh, I thought, what have I done wrong?) You're in the finals of the BBC Awards!!! You're expected next month at the Peace Palace in The Hague!" I was in total shock by the time I hung up the phone. I had almost forgotten that I entered the competition and never had any expectations of ending up with the last six! Why would they have chosen me?! Of all those stories they could chose from?!

In the Peace Palace, all I could do was smile. I was just so happy to be there, that I couldn't even care about winning. It was all so beautiful and I was so lucky to be part of it. I first realised I wrote something special, when Aldith Hunkar, who was presenting the event, put a little note in my hand. It said: I cried, when I read your story…

The moment that the British Ambassador Sir Colin Budd called out my name through the beautiful room of the Peace Palace, I experienced in a daze. I couldn't believe I actually won the competition! Me, me, who was so unsure about my story. Me, who didn't want to enter the competition in advance. Me, who thought I wouldn't make it through the first round. Me!

Being in London was like being in a dream. Everything was arranged, settled, taken care of. The only thing I needed to do was to enjoy! And, yeah, that was an easy task! The city is wonderful, the people I met were, without exception, terrific, and the atmosphere around the competition was superb! I can't imagine how this trip could have been more perfect! I met so many great people, talked to people from so many countries, and made so much new friends. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

And now I have a part of my prize still left: a summercourse of writing in England! I am so looking forward to that! One week of total solitude, just writing! Can't wait!

Perhaps you are in my shoes this year. Perhaps you have your doubts about putting an effort in writing a story for this competition. If you do, I have one advise for you: go for it! It can't hurt to try!
Imagine that I had followed my first impulse and hadn't written my story. What a shame would that have been. What an experience would I have missed! Being in this competition made me so much more confident about myself, and gave me so many new friends. It was definitely worth those two hours of writing!!!

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