PRESENTATION OF THE 2015 2016 VIVI VEJO LITERARY AND ART CONTESTS WINNERS AT THE XV MUNICIPALITY

We are all invited to the presentation of the Vivi Vejo Literary and Art competition winners presentation on tuesday May 17th at 4:30 pm at the XV Municipality on Via Flaminia 872.

Here are some words by the English Coordinator, Annika Milisic Stanley:

Juniors:
Year 6 St Georges 
Winner: Serita Lokia
A story about a refugee child coming to Italy and being adopted.

Year 9: Age 13-14 

First prize - Ellis Schilling with 'Tesfay' - 
A brilliant piece of writing, going deep into the emotional and physical strain on a refugee undergoing interview for Status Documentation at the Questura.  Schilling builds suspense from the first paragraph, masterfully showing us the anxiety of a person who has no chance if sent back to Eritrea.  She moves us, describing how Tesfay feels he never left the boat - that the memories of the trauma he suffered will never leave him. 
 
Second Prize - Colleen Martou with 'The Writer'
Moving, technically excellent, deep poem that perfectly describes a refugee/ migrant writer living in Casale De San Nicola. Martou manages to use images invoking a police state back home, bombing, a lost family in the rubble, racism, the train tracks and green fields of Casale de San Nicola, the ocean salt and tears, and the obliviousness of Europeans to the plight of millions... all in one poem. We do not know if 'The Writer' is male or female and it hardly matters. Martou uses words that each tell a story of their own, showing us with evocative, startling images, the life of a refugee in Italy, separated by a fence from ordinary people. She does not tell the reader what to feel or how to think.  It is a very mature, creative piece of poetry.

Highly Commended/ second prize - Arna S. Matheisen with 'Lost At Sea, Lost At Heart' - 
Highly creative, with good momentum and use of phrase, metaphor and suspense, this is a short story that shows a writer with a flair for story-telling. She deserves a Highly Commended award as her writing shows great promise and huge originality. 
   
Year 10: Age 14-15
Winner - First Prize = Sofia Mary Pellegrino 
An excellent, original story, edited well, and beautifully written.  Pellegrino draws the reader in to the world of the refugee, a girl who keeps her eyes closed in order to see her Mother's eyes. A girl who packed solitude into her rucksack when she left Syria for Europe and who now lives with intense loneliness, sorrow and guilt, unable to let anyone look deeply into her eyes for fear of what they will see in her soul. 

Second prize - Emily Msolla with 'Why won't you say my name?'  
Technically excellent and very moving. This poem makes use of rhythm and form to demonstrate the main issues facing migrants in Europe: Racism, intolerance, isolation, lack of work and false hopes.  "The trap is not the boat, it is the hope it gives"