WENZHOU-KEAN UNIVERSITY 2022 WKU SF Short Story WRITING COMPETITION ”ALTERNATE UNIVERSE“ AWARD CEREMONY

May 24, 2022 | CLA News | xiangbingling
On May 21, after nearly 5 months of submission and selection, 2022 WKU SF Short Story Writing Competition with the theme of “Alternate Universe” was successfully held. The competition was hosted by Dr. David Hogsette, Executive Director of English Department of the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Chee Kai Chan, Assistant Professor of Biology from the College of Science and Technology. The writing competition aims to encourage students to explore social, environmental, and philosophical problems related to human beings from the perspectives of biological sciences and humanities. It provides a platform for students to imagine, create and write.
 
 
 
This writing competition was launched in December 2021 and more than 50 students submitted their works. After careful review by the selection committee, six excellent pieces were selected, and an award ceremony was held last Saturday. Dr. Eric Yang (Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for WKU), Wang Beijiao (Party Secretary, Chairman of the Board of Directors of WKU), Dr. Denise Horn (Dean of the College of Liberal Arts), and Dr. Toby Michelena (the representative of the College of Science and Technology) attended the award ceremony to present awards to the winners.
Dr. Eric Yang, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, gave a speech at the award ceremony. He said, students should have more diverse platforms to present their creativity and express themselves from different aspects. Dr. Yang also showed his recognition for this competition and affirmation for the creativity of the students.
Science needs art, and art needs science. As one of the hosts of the competition, Dr. David Hogsette, Executive Director of English Department, encouraged students to be curious about the world. He mentioned that writing could create a safe and imaginary space for people to explore how to make the world more meaningful.
Dr. Denise Horn, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, delivered an important message to competitors that science fiction gives people opportunities to imagine different human civilizations and allow people to see the shortcomings of current society. Meanwhile, Dr. Horn expressed her hope for students to keep thinking, writing, and reading science fiction.
Another host of the competition, Professor Chee Kai Chan from Biology Department, noted that the bridge between science and humanities is science fiction, which declines people’s fear for science.
Professor Toby Michelena, the representative of Dean of the College of Science and Technology, stated that we need similar competition to encourage creativity, independent thinking, and communication.

The winning works of the competition express various ideas from the reflection on patriarchy, the meaning of life under societal pressure to the prejudice of minority groups. The authors have constructed unique universes that carry their sci-fi world views, which showed their observation of the world and ultimate romance for life.

01
《Men’s Universe》

02
 
 
《Time Travel and Constant Travel Friends》
03
 
 
 
《The Earth》
04
 
 
 
《Live’s Customization》
05
 
 
 
《Overlapped》
06
 
 
 
《Hashtag》
 
 
The first prize winner Sun Yuqing, an English major student, said, the creation of science fiction requires curiosity for both scientific and humanistic worlds, and using imagination to give different meanings for this theme is an honor for her.

Taking the universe as stage, the humans as core, and the language as carrier, to explore the width of life and philosophy, where the meaning of life lies in. In the near future, we will host a series of relevant events. We hope more students could start reading and writing science fiction to create their own universe.

 
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