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Hadiah Sastera Kumpulan Utusan.

I'm a few days behind on this but the winners of the Hadiah Sastera Kumpulan Utusan (Utusan Group Literature Prize) 2005 have recently been announced. Of most interest to me are the winners for the newly-added English Novel category:

First Prize (RM6,000)
Fridge Horror (Ti Chin Han)

Second Prize (RM4,000)
The Curse (Lee Su Ann)

Third Prize (RM3,000)
Nine Lives (Teoh Choon Ean)

The article doesn't mention if the winners got a publishing contract though. Why do all the stories sound like they're in the horror genre? Hmm...

Anyways, congratulations to the winners!

Via Nisah.

UPDATE 1:
She may not have had the scoop, but Sharon gets the human interest angle :)

UPDATE 2:
If you tried commenting on this post before and got an error saying "a blog administrator has blocked all comments on this post", try again. Have fixed that problem. What a nuisance Blogger can be sometimes.

Comments

  1. For reasons I can never comprehend, most of the creative works from local aspiring artists (be it writers and filmmakers) tend to veer towards the horror/supernatural genre, they most often go with things that deal with ghosts, loss, and things like that. Speaking from experience after going through the first half of my filmmaking course this year (two out of four all-asian filmmaking group in class did horror and supernatural stuff).

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  2. Yes, why is that? What is with us and our fascination for the supernatural? I've been wondering about this myself.

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  3. Ted, you must've read my mind. Just this morning I was wondering if the results to the English novel competition was out. And I think I know the second prize winner, Su Ann. She's a regular winner at writing contests.

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  4. Ah... good to know! Thanks, Lydia!

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  5. thanks ted - you are really in touch with what's going on - i didn't even know tho c.ean contacted me a few days ago to tell me she knew she was on the lsit of prize winner

    yes, big congrats to the winners

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  6. You're welcome, Sharon!

    I try to keep tabs with what's going on in the Malay writing scene. I wish I could read Chinese though... ever since I read on your blog about the Malaysian Chinese being such prolific writers I've been wondering what other gems the barriers of language have been obscuring from us?

    Oh well, in the mean time, there's Dewan Sastera and Tunas Cipta to read through.

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  7. Hi there!
    Good to know you still remember me, Lydia! Thanks to all for the encouraging words. Truly appreciate it.
    Perhaps the titles elicit images of horror. But during the prize giving ceremony where I met the other two winners, we agreed that none of our novels are actually of the horror genre. Although mine has hints of the supernatural, it's basically a story of a girl struggling with life's hurdles, an abusive parent, jealousy, anguish, etc. With a murder thrown in to spice things up. :)

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  8. Hi Su Ann! Glad you dropped by! I am looking forward to reading your book in September.

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  9. Hello,

    May I know how can I get in contact with Su Ann?

    ReplyDelete

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