Original to banal: How students fared in DH contest

About 400 students who tried their penship at the Deccan Herald creative writing competition on Sunday had a big challenge before them.

Their expressions shifting from curiosity to serious contemplation, the students from city schools — gathered at the Bal Bhavan auditorium for the competition — presented writings varying from the safety of straightforward description to the daring attempts at imagination.

The real challenge for them, of course, was translating their ideas about contemporary life on paper with clarity and originality. The themes were carefully picked to probe their understanding of present-day realities and key factors influencing their lives.

Their essays offered a glimpse into the teaching methods and the freedom their schools give to apply the things they learn. Some, however, broke free from the school mode to explore the topics from the adult perspective and presented their ideas with clarity and simplicity.

Some wrote with great consistency, not letting stray ideas get in the way of explaining an issue and losing the thread, while most stuck to the usual writing methods and showed reluctance to take the adventurous route.

In all, the writings submitted at the competition represented good attempts by the young minds, who used the platform to show off their ideas and walked away feeling proud at what they did. DH appreciated their attempts at presenting the ideas interestingly enough. The contest was part of DH’s inter-school competitions and was held in association with MSIL and KMF.