Congratulations to Chloe M. Grubb, from Salobreña’s IES Nazarí for winning first place in the 52nd Coca-Cola, Short-Story Contest for Eastern Andalucía. Chloe came out top of 1,500 competitors, which is an achievement in itself, but even more so when you consider that, as her name hints, Spanish is not Chloe’s first language, where it was for the majority of the other competitors. That being said, she certainly doesn’t have any problems with her Spanish written work, does she.

Chloe was one of four pupils from this school that had qualified as provincial finalists, all of whom had to go up to the city of Granada to collect their prizes at the Provincial Offices of the Andalusian Education Board.

Basically, the competitors were given the sentence, “Beware, the painter can find you; she has an incredible magnifying glass.” Armed with the said sentence and two hours of time, they had to come up with a short story. Chloe’s entry was about a boy who was trapped in painting.

She wants to become a writer, so she is off to a good start.

The prize, by the way, is a trip to Amsterdam, taking in a visit to the Van Gogh Museum. Before returning, she and five others will be stopping of in Madrid to attend a 4-day professional writer course. These chosen six, after completing the course, will have to resubmit their stories in September, when the top three will be announced.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)