Our January Flash Contest was based on our weekly creativity prompt #134, challenging writers to project themselves 100 years into the future. Entrants took us on journeys to other planets, introduced us to amazing futuristic inventions, launched spaceships and created inventive architecture. Like a lot of the best science fiction, our writers used elements of the present to project us into a possible future. We met realistic characters encountering real problems (such as the longer term effects of climate change), as well as alien creatures and sentient robots. Well done to everyone who worked so hard on their stories, we really appreciated the quality of all the entries this month. In addition to our usual 5 winners and 5 honorable mentions, we selected one entry for publication on the Stone Soup Blog in the coming weeks. Thank you for sharing your creative visions of the future world with us! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “Stranded” by Rex Huang, 11, Lake Oswego, OR “The Turning Point” by Kaidyn Robertson, 11, Sooke, BC, Canada “A Knock on the President’s Door” by Ava Shorten, 11, Mallow, Cork, Ireland “The Meteorite” by Julia Wang, 12, Wynnewood, PA “True Self” by Yasmine Weinberger, 11, Washington, DC Honorable Mentions “Lunar Scavenger Hunt” by Riya Agarwal, 10, Portland, OR “Zen the Space Robot” by Ender Ippolito, 9, Portland, OR “Bobbo” by Cathy Jiang, 11, Portland, OR “Under the Sea” by Grace Mancini, 12, Glenside, PA “A 100 years by Anaiya Nasir”, 12, Bellaire TX Chosen for the Stone Soup Covid-19 Blog “2020” by Eden George, 10, Brooklyn, NY Rex Huang, 11Lake Oswego, OR Stranded Rex Huang, 11 The cool breeze whistled Anya to sleep as it always had. There were so few comforting things here, she had to talk to the rocks to keep her sanity! The world has long lost their charm of the bright holo screens or the rainbow colored outerwear. No, all that has sunken beneath the waves, across the miles and miles of vast empty sea that was once known as earth. Thankfully, Anya had found a patch of ground not yet swallowed by the ocean’s expanding belly. She still shivers at the thought of her little sister screaming at the top of her lungs “Help me Anya, help me! Help me!” but both of them knew it was hopeless. The ladders, destroyed. Fire escape, long gone for luxury reasons. And the hoverdrones? This makes her shake her head in disappointment. The people were drowning and the wealthy wanted to watch them die? She screamed and screeched at the flying tortoises but to no avail. She could even hear the faintest bit of laughter. But that doesn’t matter. Any day, the water will swallow this tiny patch of land that she has called home for nearly a year. She had been living, surviving each day by drinking the rain water she collected in a bottle that washed ashore, and was eating the tough coconuts from the tree next to her. She guessed they were not ripe, as she had eaten some before and they were much more soft. She had always hoped for the government to make an effort to drain the water, so that she could at least return home albeit without her family. And yet, she knew in her heart that her death by the sea, which agonizingly only came up an inch each day, was inevitable. She stomps the ground in frustration, remembering this, but when she lifted her foot, she found a piece of paper. The paper was really only the second she had seen, besides the sheet from the museum labeled “Ancient Civilization”. She picked up the paper, ever so gently. It shows a drawing of an island similar to hers. It illustrates an island having the crescent shape of a banana with a pin straight at the top. Could it be? She had always thought of her island more like the funky flower pots at home, but she started to visualize the possibility of the bottom of the banana being flooded, she realized this map was about her island! She was excited to the bone, and kept examining what the paper had to show. There was a dot trail from the rose bush she had stumbled upon when first reaching the island leading up the very palm tree beside her feet. This was it! She had heard stories of the olden day’s pirates finding treasures as many times as she had laid in her bed! But there was no big fat X as the old stories had said. So, she flipped the paper, and on that sign there was a mutated grasshopper face. She knew what that meant. It was the new world’s sign of labor and duty. Which meant she had to dig up every place on the island. She quickly assessed the size of the island, and quickly came to the conclusion that it was at least as large as 9 parking lots. No chance. She frantically scanned the paper for any extra clues. And after a couple minutes, she found something. There were trees drawn where the actual trees on the island weren’t. Wondering what this meant, she walked up to a tree and realized what type of tree it was. It was a Corrion tree. Then it struck her: Corrion leaves were notorious for being more moist when being close to metals! She frantically felt the leaves, knowing she had little time to find whatever was buried deep beneath. She eventually found out that it was facing to the very center of the line, and began digging as fast as a dog who knows there’s a bone, knowing that treasure awaits her. She soon found a large metal cone striking out of the ground. This is it, she thought. There has to be some absurd piece of technology hidden beneath, hopefully one that could get her off of the wretched island that was bound to sink as low as all that sunk before. Digging some more, she found. . . another piece of paper. She bellowed in frustration so hard that she made a seagull that was on a nearby Corrion tree squall and fly away. After overcoming this frustrating moment, she had the
Flash Contest
Flash Contest #26, December 2020: Create a piece of art in any style, inspired by a family tradition – our winners and their work
Our December Flash Contest was based on our weekly creativity prompt #130, a wonderful creative challenge issued by our Stone Soup intern, Anya Geist, asking you to make a piece of art inspired by a family tradition. Needless to say, given the time of year, we received lots of entries based on holidays, including Christmas, Chinese New Year, and Navratri, plus some regular family traditions that go on all the year round. As well as encountering a diverse range of traditions, we also received works of art in many, many styles and media: collage, drawing, oil on canvas, knitting, models made in paper and clay, paper cut outs and digital art. It was really exciting to see the range of materials and cultures represented in these stories from your families. Well done to everyone who entered, and thank you for bringing us so much holiday cheer! And thank you Anya, for a great seasonal prompt! In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners Rangoli by Prisha Aswal, 8, Portland, OR Family of Pirates by Paris Andreou Hadjipavlou, 7, Nicosia, Cyprus Knitting up Memories by Audrey Hou, 11, Portland, OR Chinese New Year Windmill by Sophia Li, 9, Redwood City, CA A Paper Chinese New Year by Serena Lin, 10, Scarsdale, NY Honorable Mentions Chinese New Year by Yuxuan Jiang, 11, Portland, OR Secret Santa with my Sisters by Lucinda Mancini, 8, Glenside, PA Soaring in the Sky by Jessie Zhang, 9, Portland, OR Christmas Chaos by Joycelyn Zhang, 10, San Diego, CA Paper Art by Alexis Zou, 13, Lake Oswego, OR Prisha Aswal, 8Portland, OR Rangoli Prisha Aswal, 8 In our family, we celebrate a lot of traditions from all the cultures. One of my favorite festivals is Navratri, and during this festival we have a tradition of making Rangoli. Navratri occurs just before Diwali (the festival of Lights) and is celebrated to mark the victory of Good over Evil and Light over Darkness. A Rangoli is a colourful design, made on the floor near the entrance of the house, to welcome guests. Usually people make it with powder colors or colored chalks. It is usually made in a circle and then a pattern is repeated to complete the circle using bright colors. I love making Rangoli with my parents. For this project, I chose to make a Rangoli on canvas. Since Rangolis are usually round, I really wanted to use Earth as my design . It was not easy for me to make it perfectly, so I decided to go with an outline and chose red color to fill the land because red is the color of Love. I also put an oil lamp in the center as Light means knowledge and drives away darkness. I added Namaste, Hola, Bonjour, Ni Hao and Hello, to show that even though people speak different languages , their feelings are the same. Around my Earth, I used bright and colorful patterns and then colored the rest of the canvas in midnight blue to show the universe. Rangoli for Navratri by Prisha Aswal, 8, Portland, OR Paris Andreou Hadjipavlou, 7Nicosia, Cyprus Family of Pirates Paris Andreou Hadjipavlou, 7 Due to quarantine we have developed a family tradition of dress up. In this one we are dressing up as pirates, to hunt for treasure and explore the seas. . . Family of Pirates by Paris Andreou Hadjipavlou, 7, Nicosia, Cyprus Audrey Hou, 11Portland, OR Knitting up Memories Audrey Hou, 11 Knitting up Memories by Audrey Hou, 11, Portland, OR Sophia Li, 9Redwood City, CA Chinese New Year Windmill Sophia Li, 9 I made this for fun and gave it to my mom. It’s a Chinese New Year windmill that means good luck and health. I wrote thank you in Chinese on it and drew a dragon. Chinese New Year Windmill by Sophia Li, 9, Redwood City, CA Serena Lin, 10Scarsdale, NY A Paper Chinese New Year Serena Lin, 10, Scarsdale, NY My family is Chinese and we celebrate Chinese New Year every year. My artwork is made by hand with paper and clay, representing Chinese New Year. A Paper Chinese New Year by Serena Lin, 10, Scarsdale, NY
Flash Contest #25, November 2020: write a story with a traditional fairytale beginning and end – our winners and their work
Flash Contest #25: Write a Story that begins with “Once upon a time in a land far away. . .” and ends with “. . . and they all lived happily ever after.” Our November Flash Contest was based on our weekly creativity prompt #125, asking participants to write a story–any story–with the traditional fairy tale opening and closing lines. What a difficult task we had judging these entries! We could see that all our entrants had fun with the idea of playing with and subverting the fairytale form, and we loved reading the range of imaginative journeys everyone took. While we enjoyed many stories involving the more traditional witches, royalty, dragons and other magical creatures (not necessarily in traditional mode, though!), we also encountered aliens and were transported into outer space–and even entered the mind of a roll of toilet paper (look out for that one on the Covid-19 blog)! A huge thank you and a hearty well done to everyone who wrote a piece and submitted it to us. In particular, we congratulate our Honorable Mentions and our Winners, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners The Aliens by Benjamin Fraenkel, 8, Mansonville, Quebec, Canada The Queen and the Tiara by Samantha Lee, 11, Thomaston, CT The Bookcase by Iago Macknik-Conde, 13, Brooklyn, NY The State of Matter by Maya Mourshed, 8, Silver Spring, MD The Forest of Mystery by Areesha Nouman, 12, Westlake, OH Honorable Mentions Happily Ever After by Isabella Bixler, 13, Fairview Park, OH The Witch’s Journey by Lorena Manrique, 11, Fort Worth, TX Dragon Tales by Georgia Grace Hoover, 11, Forth Worth, TX The Naughty Princess by Atalie Lyda, 11, Portland, OR My True Self by Michelle Peng, 10, Scarsdale, NY Selected for the Stone Soup Blog Pecky’s Bravery Saves The Forest by Elise Cheung, 8, Danville, CA The Toilet Paper Roll’s Quest by Charlotte Zhang, 12, Portland, OR Benjamin Fraenkel, 8Mansonville, Quebec, Canada The Aliens Benjamin Fraenkel Once upon a time, in a land far away, a rocket-ship landed in the middle of a playground. I know because I was there. I was just walking home from school when an unknown kind of alien climbed out of it right next to the sandbox. Their rocket-ship made poisonous gas and horrible noise. And they themselves were unlike anything I had ever seen. They had two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears, hair uniquely on the tops of their heads and their skin was pale! They were also wearing weird white suits. I couldn’t understand them, so I took out my languaginzinator to comprehend what they were saying. Here’s what appeared on the screen: “Who are these weird aliens with green hair covering their bodies, three eyes, two noses, two mouths, four ears, and shiny black skin!?” “No idea, but take out your gun, they may be dangerous!” Gun? I didn’t know what that was, but I was furious. They seemed to be insulting my green fur. I had groomed it nicely, thank you very much! I knew what I had to do. I had to go to the supreme king of Planet Benzadya, King Benzoubi. He was chosen by the citizens of Benzadya because he had gotten the highest mark on the goodheart-measurer. He was a kind, good ruler. “Aliens!? Hamuns? I mean, humans? My, my!” he exclaimed. “I must help them! I have seen how they destroy each other and their planet. I will speak with them, and then I must create a portal to planet Dearth, eh, I mean, Earth.” He bustled out of the room in a hurry. I heard much talk after that, and I even overheard them speaking about something they call “war” where they divide into groups as though to play zorkball, but instead they kill each other! Silly hamuns! We gave them a goodheart-measurer, a device that allows you to detect jealousy, anger and goodness in a person’s heart. And also a copy of Benzadya’s book of wisdom translated into human-speak. We all study it in school here. I have not seen the humans since then, but I can only hope that they brought our wisdom back to Earth and lived happily ever after. THE END Samantha Lee, 11Thomaston, CT The Queen and the Tiara Samantha Lee, 11 Once upon a time, in a land far away there lived a little bunny. The bunny’s name was Tiara, for it had long been told in those parts that if you said the right words, the little bunny would turn into a gleaming tiara. Tiara’s fur was a perfect, sparkling white and was softer than fresh snow on a winter day. Her graceful ears and big eyes made Tiara the cutest little rabbit in all of the land. She would spend her days frolicking in the Caramel Meadows and bounding through the Lollipop Forest. Sometimes, the bunny would go to the far edge of the meadow and look up at the sky where she could just imagine a shimmering castle glistening beneath the clouds, always housing a little princess in a sparkly tiara and glittering gown. As it turned out, Tiara’s imagination was closer to reality than she would have thought, though farther off than she would have wished. The sparkles and light had long since vanished from The Castle in the Distance. So had the glittering girl Tiara pictured. Instead there loomed a stark, menacing castle and a Queen that was both starker and more menacing. The Queen’s imagination wasn’t nearly so lighthearted as Tiara’s. The Queen imagined conquering more wide, green lands and taking more innocent people as servants. The Queen’s favorite word was “more”, especially when it came after the word “much”. One day, The Queen heard tell of the magical bunny Tiara from one of her older servants. A wicked grin spread across her lips and an evil laugh slipped out. The Queen wanted Tiara. She wanted her very much. And when the Queen wanted something, she would do anything at all to get it. Tiara inhaled deeply as she sat in one of her favorite clearings in the Lollipop Forest. A sweet, fresh smell always seemed to linger about there, making the whole clearing radiate a perfect aroma. The berries were
