Clarissa Ki Wins CityU Covid-19 Writing Competition

Congratulations to Clarissa Ki (12F) for winning the 2nd place in the CityU Covid-19 Wiring Competition (Senior Secondary – Open category).

Organised by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences of the City University of Hong Kong, the competition invites secondary school students to share their stories, of the impact of Covid-19 on life in Hong Kong. Students can submit their work in the format of oral history or a short essay around the theme of ‘Back to the Future’.

Clarissa went fifty years into the future, and imagines telling a story to her child  about how the disease has changed Hong Kong.

Clarissa’s piece was selected among 420 submissions and was highly praised by the judging panel.

The judges commented, This story was amazing. It creates a future world that is immediately relatable, but the themes of privacy vs safety or choice vs freedom and the unforeseen consequences of new technologies are all very real and present. This was an exceptionally mature piece of writing, which the author is to be commended for bringing to life. The narrative is smooth and well-established, and the protagonist speaks with a highly authentic voice. All in all this was an excellent submission.

When asked where she got her inspiration from, Clarissa said: “I’ve always been interested in technology and the ethical considerations it raises: the potential for technology both to benefit and harm us, the extent to which inventors are responsible for their inventions, its implications on privacy and free choice, just to name a few.”

“Although I provided an interpretation of how our present situation evolves into a hypothetical future, I’ve left many questions unanswered. These topics may seem to belong to a far-away, futuristic world, but I hope this encourages readers to think about how they relate to our current reality.”

Click here to read Clarissa’s winning entry.