Winner:

The doom

I felt awful to be left out alone at home on that cold evening. My sister was admitted to hospital for tonsilitis. I was worried about her. I felt bored and I closed the book I was reading. I thought of going out for a walk. I put on my jersey and cap and headed to the woods with the idea of exploring it. I could not find anything interesting.

I turned and walked out of the woods. I really did not walk out of it, I circled around the woods and came back to the place I stood earlier. It was a wild goose chase. My heart sank, I could not find my way out.

Unfortunately, it started raining. Trees began to shake, birds began to chirp, mud puddles got filled and flowers withered. I stood there doomed. I did not give up. I made my way through the woods. Then I saw something. I could not figure out what it was because my glasses were wet. I got drenched and started to shiver. As I got closer, I saw a massive castle. I thought that I will get shelter and I headed towards it.

I opened the gates with my cold hands. The main door was kept ajar. I went in, and a few minutes later, the floor started to vibrate. I heard some heavy footsteps. A chill ran through my body. “Was this supposed to be my fate?” I asked myself. I could not believe it. It was a beast! A real one. I thought beasts were only in fairy tales. I fell on my knees. I got closer and closer and after a few minutes, everything became blurred. I do not know what happened thereafter!

Sanuki Kavinya Silva,
Grade 8E-A,
Sujatha Vidyalaya,
Nugegoda.

Winner:

A trip to the Horton Plains

We went to Nuwara Eliya during our April holidays and saw many eye-catching scenes. The most beautiful and stunning place was Horton Plains.

Horton Plains was named after Robert Horton, a Britisher, who visited Sri Lanka. When he discovered the plains he realised the beauty of Sri Lanka and changed his mind and decided to stay and preserve Sri Lanka’s beauty. The plains bordering the Uva province was known as the Horton Plains.

We were given a tour guide. He explained many things about Horton Plains. We parked our vehicle after going through the security check. The first thing we saw was the tour guide centre where you find the map of Horton Plains. Our plan was to see the mini World’s End and the greater World’s End, which were about nine kilometres away. Even though it was tiring, it was worth watching.

We saw a small stream which was about 100 metres away from the security check point. Next to it was a board with facts about rainbow trout. We saw two brown trouts cleverly camouflaged because the water and stone were brown. Going a bit further we found a small plant known as menthol. According to the tour guide, it is used for colds and it soothes pain. We walked a distance and came to the forest and reached the mini World’s End. We sat and enjoyed the panoramic view. Then we reached the greater World’s End.

There was only a thick mist at the greater World’s End. We stopped for lunch and saw a mountain through a small break through the mist. We started our tour to see Baker’s Falls.

It was named after Sir Samuel Baker who discovered the beautiful waterfall. The water was ice-cold but refreshing. We took photographs and left.

We were tired and on our way back we found a river. We washed our aching feet in the water. We ended our marvellous hike at the Horton Plains and returned home.

Shivangi Sritharan,
Grade 5A,
St. Jude’s College,
Kurana.

Winner:

My friend becomes a Samanera

Saman was my best friend. When we were young, we played together after returning from school. Even though I attended a city school and he went to the village school, it did not affect our friendship.

I have never seen his father. One day I inquired from my mother about him. She said he was a soldier. After some time Saman’s mother went abroad for employment. Saman was brought up by his grandmother.

Unfortunately, his mother met with an accident and was brought back on a wheel-chair. My mother always helped Saman’s grandmother.

Saman’s grandmother and my mother asked whether he would like to be ordained as a novice Bhikkhu. With his consent he was ordained as a Samanera or novice Bhikkhu with the blessings of the villagers.

Now I cannot play with him. I always see him meditating wearing a yellow robe.

Pasindu Anjana Weerakkody,
Grade 4A,
Royal International School,
Kurunegala.

Winner:

How I became a scrabble winner

It was a beautiful Wednesday. While I was playing scrabble with my opponent in my scrabble class, he was winning with a small margin. Even though it was a small margin I was unable to reach it because I had bad letters in my rack. I changed my tiles several times but I could not get a single good letter from which I could make a proper word.

My coach came to the place where I was playing. He peeped into my rack. He realised that I had a problem and told me to change some tiles from my rack. Then I told my coach that I was going to give up. He patted me kindly and told me to change my tile for the last time.

I changed four of my tiles from my rack. The first three letters I got were vowels and an ‘X’ which had a score of eight. It was my opponent’s turn to play. He played a word and got 13 points. He played that word near a three letter word box. Then I soon put my X and A where the X was in the three letter word box and the A in the normal box. I got 53 points and I won.

This incident proved that if I had given up the game, I would not have won.

Shuhaib Nazar,
Grade 10,
Hejaaz International School,
Mt. Lavinia.

Winner:

The country I like to visit

The country I like to visit is Australia. It is considered to be the largest island in the world.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the eight wonders in the world. It is famous for corals and colourful fish.

There are many states in Australia. Queensland is the most eye-catching place. Here the climate and other conditions are similar to that of our country. People in Australia protect the environment.

I enjoy watching the kangaroos and kola bears who are endemic to Australia. It is so exciting to meet aboriginal tribes who had been the original settlers of Australia. Australia is popular for sports such as cricket, rugger, hockey and athletics. They have emerged champions especially in cricket many times.

They are a determined nation and I too will no doubt visit Australia some day and make my dream a reality.

Ruwanthi de Silva,
Grade 9,
Hemamali Girls’ College,
Kandy.

A train journey

Last Friday my father planned to take us to Kandy by train. We were happy. My father reserved the seats. We went to the station and got into the train.

It was crowded. We waited till the train started. When it started we clapped our hands in joy. The train moved fast.

We reached Kandy. It was beautiful. Kandy is surrounded by mountains. The climate is cool. It was the most happiest journey in my life.

Shenoli Rukshika Senadeera,
Grade 4, Leeds International School,
Panadura.

My pet

My pet is a parrot. Its name is Peththa. It is green. It has two legs and a beak. It has green wings. It has a red ring around its neck.

My pet is beautiful. It likes to eat fruit. It can speak in Sinhala. It calls me Chooti. I love my parrot and it loves me too.

Avishka Nirmal,
Grade 4,
Christ Church Boys’ College,
Baddegama.