KUCHING: Writing about the experience of staying connected during the Covid-19 pandemic earned secondary school students Christabel Lau and Ong Rui Yu gold awards in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition this year.

       Their achievement exceeded expectations as gold awards were given to fewer than 1% of over 25,000 entries from Commonwealth countries this year, besides the winner and runner-up in both senior and junior categories.

       Lau and Ong, both students of St Joseph’s International School here, were taking part in the competition for the second time after being introduced to it by their English teacher Ann Armstrong last year.

       “I was very honoured to receive the gold award. When I saw there were only 171 gold finalists, I was really shocked and surprised that I was one of them,” Lau, 18, said. She received a bronze award last year.Ong, 17, also said she was honoured the judges enjoyed her essay and chose it for a gold award, after getting a silver previously.

       “I wrote about how we are connected through our shared experiences. A lot of people will say that Covid-19 has physically separated us but I feel we are spiritually and emotionally connected because we have gone through a historical event together.

       “To me, Covid-19 was silent so I wrote about the different kinds of silences that connect us, be it pain, fear, anxiety, hope and solidarity, and different aspects of how the human race has survived through Covid-19,” Ong said.

       In her essay, based on her personal experience, Lau focused on the need to talk to others and the availability of different platforms such as social media connecting people around the world

       “My essay title was ‘Escaping 2,687 Square Feet’, which is the average size of a house. With the Internet, you can escape this small size and reach the whole globe.

       “I wrote about how you can watch movies with your friends, read books, talk to different people but also at the end, I emphasised that the Internet also has risks and you shouldn’t spend so much time on it. You should focus on your family as well.”

       Armstrong said she gave the competition’s topic as a class assignment for all the students to write on but it was up to them to decide whether to submit it as an entry.

       “This year, we had two gold winners and one silver,” she said.

       Lau and Ong plan to continue writing and taking part in essay competitions in future.

       To aspiring writers, Ong encouraged them to read widely, know what they want to convey and be creative.

       “Most importantly, don’t stop halfway. This is an ongoing process –even now, I want to rewrite my submitted essay. Trust the process, believe in your goal and persevere to the end.”

       Lau added the competition allowed her to explore her creativity and expand her knowledge on what was happening around her.

       “I strongly encourage students to challenge themselves in writing competitions as you really gain a lot of awareness on a variety of topics,” she said.