Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg learner gets top award at national senior prose writing competition.
Dawson Gooch took first place in the country at the recently held South African Council for English Education Creative Writing Competition. He wrote an essay for the senior prose section.
To participate in the competition, learners entered on a voluntary basis and the competition had a senior and a junior category, each subdivided into prose and poetry.
Gooch explained that depending on the section that the learner chose, prescribed or non-prescribed, they could write whatever they wanted about an image provided for inspiration or whatever they felt like writing, respectively.
“I wrote an essay titled ‘Growing Up’, it is about the steps I am currently taking towards autonomy, factors like going off to University and the changes I am currently going through as I become a young adult.” He shared that as he is an 18 year old about to move out of his parent’s house and be off on his own for the first time, this topic was close to his heart.
Through his years at school Gooch has had a flair for writing creatively and has excellent general language ability and literary analysis skills. He also enjoys anything that has to do with technology and is said to be particularly good with computers.
For his win he received a gift card and two copies of an anthology of poems, one of which will go to the school’s library. To him the win meant that he can now look towards a future in writing. “I will be more confident in knowing that I am capable of creating content worth reading and that I should at least consider how it could be a possible career choice for me.”
Gooch hopes his national win has inspired other Deutsche Internationale Schule learners to take part in such competitions and develop confidence in their writing abilities. This would be the second time the school has participated in the competition. Through it, learners hone the ability to write without constraints that normal schooling necessitates.
Gooch concluded that the competition gave him the great chance to have his work read by published South African author, Jane Fox. “She offered advice on writing and hearing her comments on the writing of other competitors was a very insightful.”
