Sixty students walked away with prizes at the Samoa Observer Tusitala Short Story Competition 2022 awards ceremony at the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.) Fale on Tuesday.

Students from around the country were accompanied by their school principals, teachers and family to the awards ceremony with some even taking the earliest boat trip from Savai'i.

A total of 1070 students submitted entries to this competition based on the theme "change" or "suiga".

The short story competition by the Samoa Observer has been running for 11 years and has been supported by like minded organisations such as local businesses Samoa Stationery And Books (S.S.A.B.), Eveni Block, and Vodafone to name a few.

British High Commissioner to Samoa, David Ward shared a little on the topic of change with a few words from Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson during his keynote address. 

"The true wisdom is to be always seasonable and to change with a good grace in changing circumstances," Mr. Ward said quoting the author. 

"In this year of the 60th year of Samoa Independence, we look back and see all the changes that has happened and forward to what changes might it is a great honor to be invited here to speak."

Eveni Block Retail Coordinator, Selina Galuvao said they were proud to be associated with the competition, which allowed young Samoans to show their creativity. 

“We are excited to be sponsoring this Samoa Observer Tusitala Story national competition. 2022 marks the 11th year since Eveni started to give support and encouragement to all students, parents and educators through this competition,” she said.

"Over the years Eveni Carruthers has always strived not only to provide quality and affordable supplies but also strictly correct specs and designs of school uniforms and sports uniforms  under the 'Eveni Kids' and Eveni Block (Sogi) brands in Samoa."

Chanel College student, Melagitone Enari who won the top price in the Year 13 English category, said he was actually expecting a third place and thanked God for propelling him towards the top.

"The story I wrote is based on a true story about me and my family and the changes we had to go through when we moved from the village of Solosolo to Apia," he said. 

"It's a big change where I had to adapt and adopt it."  

The young man also shares a passion for technology and hopes to become an I.T. expert.

His teacher and the Acting Principal of Chanel College Mulipola Mose Tuafoe said Melagi was an outstanding student academically.

"Everything that we do in school, he always takes the lead, I had no doubt that he would get a prize and I'm not surprised because when I read his story," he said. 

"It really came from his heart and it's based on what's been happening in his family and I'm so thrilled for his achievement."

Guests at the prize-giving ceremony included the N.U.S. President and Vice Chancellor Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma, Vodafone Acting C.E.O. Rana Bose and S.S.A.B. Marketing Manager Asia Stanley. 

This year's Samoa Observer Tusitala Short Story Competition Judges included 

The emcee of the prize-giving ceremony and the current coordinator of the competition, Jane Va’afusuaga, told the gathering that she had to drive around Savai'i as well Upolu visiting schools to promote this year's competition.

"I would like to acknowledge the principals and teachers for all the hard work that you are doing," Mrs. Va’afusuaga said.

"I heard some singing while I was there [at the schools] and it was just wonderful to be there."

The short story competition was started by the Samoa Observer Chief Editor, Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa to encourage Samoan students to use written language to share their thoughts and ideas to improve literacy skills, according to Mrs. Va’afusuaga, to give the pupils an opportunity for their work to be publicised. 

N.U.S. academic Silafau Professor Sina Vaai, who as the head judge spoke on behalf of this year's competition judges, said they assessed the short story entries "blindly" with the coordinator creating codes for the different authors' submissions to ensure the integrity of the competition.

She said they would to congratulate all 1070 students submitted entries from the 70 schools in Samoa and indicated that the total was an increase for both Samoan and English.

"It is growing every year and that is an encouraging sign of popularity, perseverance and sustainability, malo lava and well done to all," said Silafau.

"In terms of results, the judges found many of the levels difficult to assess because there were just so many stories of such good quality, it was a real challenge.

"And I include one quote to illustrate, from one of the judges, the standard of writing at this level has improved tremendously.

"It was a privilege to read such a diverse selection of stories on topics that...changing schools, changing uniforms, changing friends, changing countries to the change that Covid-19 incurred such as funerals and families."

Besides Silafau, the other judges for this year's competition were Papalii Momoe Malietoa Von Reiche, Fitimaula Donna Ioane and Jenny Bennett Tuionetoa.  

For the full list of this year's winners see the list below: