Christina Fudge, a Level 11 student at St. Peter’s School in McCallum in 2011-2012, turned her passion for writing into a winning entry in the 2012 Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial government’s Arts and Letters Awards.
The competition, which is 60 years old now, recognizes the province’s writers, visual artists, and musicians.
For aspiring members of the province’s artistic community, this is the competition they all want to win.
Ms. Fudge first entered the competition in the 2010-2011 school year and was encouraged by officials to reenter this year.
“I have a passion for writing,” Ms. Fudge said, “which has been developing for several years now. I received some positive feedback from my first entry, so I decided to enter the junior prose category again this time around.”
Ms. Fudge’s entry, entitled ‘Strike’ is about a young girl who is in an abusive relationship.
She said, “I’m not actually sure why I wanted to write about this particular topic other than it’s different from what I normally write about. It’s not based on any personal experience or an experience any of my friends went through.
“It’s an interesting topic and always controversial, so I decided to write about this issue.”
Any winner in an annual Arts and Letters competition is held in high regard mainly because the adjudication process is completely blind. In the adult section, new and emerging artists compete on the same level with well-known professionals.
In the junior division, the work alone has to do the speaking. When an emerging artists wins, it’s a strong confirmation that she/he really has created something that stands out.
Ms. Fudge said that she was really excited to be named one of the winners in the 2012 competition.
“It feels really great to have won for my 2012 entry. There were 72 entries in this particular division and to be among the top 10 is quite an honour.
“This will definitely encourage me to continue writing during my last year in high school and well beyond that.”
Ms. Fudge said that she plans to major in English at MUN after completing Level 111 and that she wants to become an English teacher .
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