1 . The Best Writing Contests of 2024
Kentucky Visions Short Story Contest
The Kentucky Visions Short Story Contest, an annual contest, is designed to highlight Kentucky’s rich literary talent and celebrate the best in short fiction written by Kentuckians or about our beloved Bluegrass State.
Top prize Best entry: $500
Entry requirements
Fee: FREEDeadline March 31, 2024
Fiction Factory Flash Fiction
This is an international competition—we welcome entries from around the world. Maximum word count: 1,000, Stories may be on any theme. Entries must be previously unpublished. Results will be announced by April 2024. Minimum age: 16 years. Children’s compositions cannot be accepted sadly.
Top prize Best entry: £500
Entry requirements
Fee: FREEDeadline March 31, 2024
Journalism Competition 2024
What are the most important issues taking place close to home? Perhaps a rare bird sighting near your town? Or a band of young people in your province fighting for access to higher education? This month, involve yourself in a newsworthy event inside the borders of your own country, and invite us there through your written reporting.
Top prize Best entry: $100
Entry requirements
Fee: FREEDeadline July 22, 2024
Poetry & Spoken Word Competition 2024
“Poetry lays the foundations for a future of change,” wrote Audre Lorde. This month, sow your own seeds of change into poetry, or else write and perform an original piece of spoken word(poetry performed aloud). We’ll award two top prizes-one for a written poem, and one for a recorded performance.
Top prize Best entry: $100
Entry requirements
Fee: FREEDeadline May 27, 2024
1. Which contest accepts entries both at home and abroad?
| A．Kentucky Visions Short Story Contest. | B．Fiction Factory Flash Fiction. |
| C．Journalism Competition 2024. | D．Poetry&-Spoken Word Competition 2024. |
| A．It offers two first prizes. | B．It only requests written compositions. |
| C．It provides the highest awards. | D．It inspires students to perform actively. |
| A．To compare some writing contests. | B．To recommend good writing contests. |
| C．To share tips on winning writing contests. | D．To remind students to enter writing contests. |
2 . It takes Thai athlete Sawang Janpram 27. 08 seconds to run 100 meters. That’s not bad, given that he is 102 years old. People know Sawang as the oldest sprinter (短跑选手) in Thailand. He has run four times in the yearly Thailand Master Athletes Championships.
At the championship last weekend in the southwestern Samut Songkhram Province, he won all the gold medals in the 100-105 years groups. That is because he has lived longer than any other competitor in that age range.
“Getting into sports made me strong and well. As well as this, exercising helps improve your appetite so you eat well too,” Sawang says when asked about the secret to his long life.
Sawang walks with his 70-year-old daughter, Siripan, every day. He does simple jobs around the house like cleaning the fallen leaves in their garden. But the 102-year-old became more active as he prepared for the games. He trained two times a day for a week at a sports center with his daughter.
“My father always has positive (积极的) thoughts… so he is in a great mental health condition. In terms of physical health, he has gotten much stronger,” Siripan says.
The training helped. Sawang’s time for the 100-meter sprint this year was his fastest ever. And it is a new Thai record for his age group.
“As Thailand’s society ages, the number of competitors in the senior group has grown,” says Viwat Vigrantanoros. He is president of Asia Masters Athletics. When the Thailand Master Athletes Championships started in 1996, there were only about 300 competitors. Today, there are over 2, 000 from 35 to 102 years of age.
“As you can see, everybody who’s here to compete has all forgotten about their ages. Once they forget about their ages, they are happy,” Viwat says.
1. What made Sawang win all the gold medals in his age group?| A．His positive thoughts. | B．His regular training. |
| C．His older age. | D．His stronger body. |
| A．Eating much. | B．Taking exercise. |
| C．Great mental health. | D．Love from his daughter. |
| A．The 100-meter sprint. | B．This year’s competition. |
| C．Sawang’s hard training. | D．Sawang’s running time. |
| A．Ignoring their ages. | B．Enjoying their family life. |
| C．Winning the championship. | D．Forgetting their health condition. |
3 . Japan's Momiji Nishiya, 13, made history on Monday. At the Tokyo 2020 Games, she took home the first women' s street skateboarding Olympic gold medal. Standing next to her on the podium (领奖台) was Rayssa Leal, also 13, from Brazil. Japanese skater Funa Nakayama, 16, took bronze.
The women's skateboarding final was a huge moment for the Games. Some of the Olympic youngest competitors appeared there. Half of the skaters in the final were younger than 18. In Tokyo's burning heat, they decided to try their best. They managed to fill the mostly empty skatepark with joy as hip-hop music sounded in the background.
After winning gold, Momiji was asked what she wanted to tell young skaters.“Skateboarding is fun and interesting,” she said. “I hope everyone can give it a try.”
And the young medalist is already offering powerful inspiration for new skaters. Outside of the skateboarding field, 9-year old Keito Ota and 8-year-old Ayane Nakamura were eagerly waiting to catch sight of the new Japanese medalists. The two friends started skateboarding about a year ago. They arrived at the park wearing Team Japan skateboarding shits. Every time a bus left the field, they held up pieces of paper that said,“Thank you for your hard work" and “Congratulations on your gold medal.”Keito says he' s adding Momiji to his list of favourite skateboarders. In August, Keito will enter his first competition at a skateboarding student cup.
Just 13 years and 330 days old at the time of her win, Momiji is Japan's youngest-ever gold medalist. She’s one of the youngest in Olympic history. That record, though, goes to American diver (跳水选手) Marjorie Gestring. Gestring to the gold medal at the Berlin 1936 Games at the age of 13 years and 267 days. At age 13 years and 203 days, Leal would have set a new record had she finished first.
1. What can we know about the women’s street skateboarding at the Tokyo 2020 Games?| A．It is included in the Olympic Games for the first time. |
| B．It produced the first gold medal of the 2020 0lympic Games. |
| C．It was the first event in which the Japanese won the gold medal. |
| D．It was the sport whose winner was the youngest in the Olympics. |
| A．No audience. | B．Difficult moves. |
| C．The hot weather. | D．The background music. |
| A．To present a fact. | B．To give an example. |
| C．To introduce a topic. | D．To make an expectation. |
| A．Rayssa Leal. | B．Momiji Nishiya. | C．Funa Nakayama. | D．Marjorie Gestring. |
