[Winner]

Friendship

True friendship is great. I have ten friends in school just like my ten fingers. They help me in my studies and sports. ‘A good friend will help when in danger’ is an old saying. We must be careful when choosing friends.

A true friendship is like the waxing moon, which makes you bright and a bad friendship is like eating sugarcane from the bottom to the top. It will be sweet at first and gradually it will reduce.

However, a true friend will stand by you at all times. Gold is similar to a good friendship which shines bright everyday, but a bad friendship is like coated gold which shines bright at first and then fades away. This is how friendship can be best described . We must be careful when selecting friends.

P. Sajithraj,
Grade 8 F,
Hindu College,
Colombo 4.

[Winner]

A wonderful night

Last night I had an unusual experience. As usual I was reading a book and fell asleep. Suddenly I felt that I got a pair of wings and was flying in the sky. The clouds were made of chocolates and when I looked down, oh! I was flying over a town made of sweet candies.

I rushed to a town which was marvellous. Houses were made with chocolates, toffee trees and there were biscuit flowers. Suddenly, a giant man came to the town and began to eat all the houses and trees. ‘Help, help, stop it you foolish man,’ I shouted.

When I woke up suddenly I realized that it was only a dream. Then, I heard many voices in the living room. When I went there, my father and brother were trying to catch a thief. Afew minutes later the police took the thief away.

I asked them “What happened?” and then my mother asked me whether I was joking. It was you who shouted asking help to stop that man. When we were coming to your room, we saw the thief hiding in the living room and your father caught him.

How wonderful! That night was the best night. When I related my story, all the family members laughed until they fell asleep.

D. Senali Senanayake,
Grade 8 Kumudu,
Wayamba Royal College, Kurunegala.

[Winner]

What is Acapella and who sings it?

‘Acapella’ means vocal music without instruments or producing the sounds of instruments with our natural voice. Acapella was originally intended to differentiate between ‘Renaissance polyphony’ and ‘Baroque concerto’ style. This style was originally used in religious music, especially church music. Nowadays, Acapella is used in amazing cover versions.

The world’s best Acapella groups are Pentatonix, Street Corner Symphony, Straight No Chaser and The Buds, to name some. The videos on YouTube all have over tens and millions of views. We should be proud as Sri Lankans that we also have one band which sings Acapella and they are Voiceprint.

In 2009, they introduced Acapella with beatboxing for the first time in Sri Lankan history by releasing ‘Little Drummer Boy.’

In 2010, they took part in the World Choir Games which was held in China. They won a Silver medal for pop and the Bronze in the sacred category. In 2012, they released their first Acapella single Geyu Gee to the commercial industry as the first- ever Acapella band in Sri Lanka and is still the only band singing Acapella here.

Dinithi Theshala Jayasundara,
Grade 9 A,
Good Shepherd Convent,
Kandy.

[Winner]

An exciting holiday

My August vacation was exciting. I visited my Maami (Aunt) in Denmark with my family and Aththammi(Grandmother).

While in Denmark, Maami saw to it that we enjoyed ourselves. We visited a wonderful theme park in Copenhagan and went on a canal tour which took us sightseeing through historical areas and architectural wonders. We also visited a Safari park in Knuthenborg and saw giraffes, zebras, deer, donkeys and kangaroos roaming freely.

It was funny to see camels together under a tree. The white wolves and tigers were in enclosed areas.

Next was the exciting part, when we went by ship to Oslo the capital of Norway spending the night in the North Sea. Norway is 323,00 sq. km. which is about four times bigger than Sri Lanka and the population is only five million. Then we went to Eidfjord by car. The 300 km drive through the mountains was picturesque. The next day we went to Sea Kayaking. It was an instructor-led tour. There were four double Kayaks for the eight of us. Aththammi was at home alone. It was frightening but exciting, Kayaking in the deep sea but the sea was calm.

On the following day, four girls demonstrated their skills on rock climbing which was adventurous. My cousins climbed up and came down skilfully but akki(sister) and I were able to climb only halfway!

A day later, we went to Bergen - the ancient capital of Norway. It is the second largest populated city in Norway with 250,000 people. Bergen is a world heritage city, surrounded by one of the most popular attractions in the world - the Norwegian Fjords. We went on a Fjord cruise to Mostraumen which was a beautiful experience. The modern catamaran took us on an adventure to see several waterfalls and narrow Fjords surrounded by steep mountains.

When we returned to Denmark, we tried skating but we fell at the beginning and my cousins performed well. My older cousin was good at horse riding and we enjoyed watching her galloping gaily on a big horse. Our holiday came to an end and we returned to Sri Lanka and back to school and studies.

Maheli Rajeesha Wickramasinghe,
11 years,
Musaeus College,
Colombo 7.

[Winner]

My trip to Anuradhapura

During the August vacation we decided to go to Anuradhapura. We left our home around 4.30 a.m. on August 29. We had our breakfast on the beach in Chilaw.

We first visited the Norochcholai coal power station. Next we went to see the salterns in Puttalam. After seeing the windmills we headed towards Anuradhapura. We had lunch at the Lakeside Hotel in Nuwarawewa. My sister and I enjoyed ourselves in the swimming pool. We paid homage at the Sri Maha Bodhiya and the Ruwanweliseya in the night.

The next morning we went to see the Atamastana and other important places such as Isurumuniya and the Samadhi Buddha statue. We also saw the Tissa wewa, Abhaya wewa and the Nuwara wewa. We started our return journey in the evening and reached home by 10 p.m. Though it was a tiring trip, I felt so happy since I could see a part of our proud history.

Imasha Vithanage,
Grade 5B,
Musaeus College,
Colombo 7.

The moon

The moon is the earth's only natural satellite. The moon was formed about 4.6 billion years ago like most of the objects in the solar system.

It is much smaller than the earth. Its average radius is about 27 percent of the earth's radius. Earth is almost 81 times the size of the moon. The moon is about 3,82, 168 km from the earth.

Himasha Liyanage,
Grade 6B,
Royal International School.

Trees

Trees help us in various ways. They give us shelter, food and oxygen. During Autumn the leaves change colour and fall. If people cut trees it will create droughts. Animals rely on trees for food and shelter. People use trees to build houses. It is our duty to grow trees.

Pawani Weerasinghe,
Grade 4A,
Royal International School.