Raghav Dwivedi wins FOBISIA Short Story Competition 2018

Raghav Dwivedi wins FOBISIA Short Story Competition 2018 A huge congratulations goes out to Year 7 student Raghav Dwivedi who has once again been crowned winner of the FOBISIA Short Story Competition! After winning the primary category in 2017, he has now gone on to win the Secondary category as one of the youngest participants in his group.

A huge congratulations goes out to Year 7 student Raghav Dwivedi who has once again been crowned winner of the FOBISIA Short Story Competition! After winning the primary category in 2017, he has now gone on to win the Secondary category as one of the youngest participants in his group.

The FOBISIA Short Story Competition is in its 8th year and in the years since its inception it has continued to grow and is now considered a key event on the FOBISIA calendar.

Annually, the competition offers a theme to budding young writers and provides students of all age groups, across the FOBISIA schools, with the chance to create and craft stories linked to the set theme. Previously, the themes have included: ‘Flight’, ‘Magic’, Taking Risks’, and ‘Lost’. The opportunity for breadth and depth of interpretation of the theme is vast and from the outset writers have produced fantastic work in a genre that requires genuine literary skill.

In 2018 the theme was ‘Watch’ and the competition opened across three categories: Years 3 & 4, Years 5 & 6 and Secondary. The English department at the BIS HCMC Secondary Campus had the pleasure of reading all of the student entries in the Secondary category, but our task was made particularly difficult as only one entry from each FOBISIA school can go forward to the final. After much deliberation we chose Raghav Dwvedi’s entry entitled 'A Pair of Grey-Brown Eyes’ - a mature and moving piece that displayed a level sophistication not normally seen in a Year 7 student’s work.

Judging of the final entries was conducted at Bangkok Patana with the assistance of the poet, writer and recording artist Donovan Christopher. Donovan was ‘really impressed by the standards and levels of work’ and we were delighted for Raghav when he was chosen as the overall winner of the Secondary category! Donovan’s thoughts on Raghav’s story are testimony to the quality of the writing and the power of the message:

I liked the sense of justice and karma in this haunting story.

It highlights do good and good will live after you. Do bad and it will destroy you.

Or when you think it’s peace and safety, it’s your destruction. Well reflected in the story with many lessons to learn. I also felt the warmth, love and sorrow that ran through the piece with a sense of vibrancy as if I were there watching the events unfold in detail.

Having won the primary category in 2017, Raghav is clearly a writer of talent, but to win the secondary category in Year 7 when the competition is open to students aged 11 to 18 is an outstanding achievement. Look out for Raghav's name in the future.

Gavin Donnelly, Head of English

To read the winning entry, please click on the download below: