Winners of the 2025 XJTLU Creative Writing Competition Announced

25 Oct 2025

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 XJTLU Creative Writing Competition. From March to May 2025, six Creative Writing evening classes were held by lecturers Kyle Sparks, Rebecca Sparks and David Brennan. Though the majority of the classes focused on prose, one class, delivered by Kyle Sparks, was devoted to poetic form.Classes for the 2026 writing competition will begin in semester two next year. All in all, it was an immensely enjoyable and fruitful experience for both students and staff.

Winners’ Comments

Ruoyu Zhang- 1st Place Winner

“Whenever I read a book, I wonder where the great ideas come from. In the creative writing lessons led by real writers and teachers, I gradually got to know the essence. In these lessons, we learned how to write dialogues, how to ‘show’ instead of ‘tell’, how to write the ‘actions’ with interesting words, how to write a poem with rhymes, and so many other detailed aspects of writing.Mr David Brennan, Mr Kyle Sparks and Mrs Rebecca Sparks were really good tutors; they listened to our ideas and drafts. We spent a lot of time creating our own stories and discussing them to optimise the writing. It was a truly unforgettable and meaningful experience during which any person can take their first step in writing.I remembered that at first, I could only come up with awkward plots and dramatic conversations, but at the end of the sessions, my work was praised.My story was based on my story with my rabbit, Lisa. It was a real rabbit, though I did not cut myself as Laura did in my childhood. Lisa’s death was a trauma in my heart. For the first time, I read the fragment of the article in class, and I was praised and encouraged to finish it. It was not a smooth process, though I finally finished it. I hope my rabbit will be happy to see this story.”

Xiao – 2nd Place Winner

“The classes were super fun! I just walked in one day near the end of the course, but it was still really engaging! I love the looseness and the place and time to basically just brain-splurge whatever—prose, poetry, anything—in a very welcoming space! Big thanks to the organisers for hosting it!”

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Winners of the 2025 XJTLU Creative Writing Competition Announced