Intervarsity: Creative Writing Competition by the FAD

Wait, I didn’t misread the title, did I? The Faculty of Arts and Design held a writing competition, not a drawing competition?

You didn’t! The FAD at Maranatha made use of the second grant they received from the Directorate General of Higher Education to hold the Maranatha Creative Intervarsity (MCI): “College is Fun!” Creative Writing Competition. And they didn’t hold back. The competition was open to not only Maranatha students, not only Indonesians–but any college student across the world! Submissions came from 5 countries: Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Timor Leste, in English and Indonesian.

But why creative writing?

“In any study program, writing is a vital part of academic activities. Even more so, now the government assesses programs with this skill in mind, such as students’ scientific publications,” wrote Isabella Isthipraya Andreas, S.Ds., M.Ds., the head of the committee.

“Additionally, students are sure to have an abundance of interesting experiences in college to share for the public to read, especially after Indonesian institutions started carrying out various Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka schemes.”

And it’s true, college stories shouldn’t be forgotten. Why keep it for yourself when you can share it to inspire others?

MCI was opened on 15 December 2022. Before the deadline, participants were able to gather some knowledge through the Creative Writing Webinar: Let’s Share Your Stories! by Victoria Tunggono, an alumna of Maranatha’s Interior Design who works as a writer. She would also judge the submissions.

The winners were announced at the end of 2022, but the event was not yet finished. In a sharing & review session in January 2023, participants got to learn from the winning work: Jogja Kembali (Jogja Returns) by Shopia Himatul Alya, a student of Maranatha’s Fine Arts program. So, how did her story appeal to the judges?

“In creative writing, we need to use our senses. This will pull the readers into the situation we’re telling,” said Daniel Damanik. “When I read Shopia’s work, I could feel Jogja. She was able to invite readers to dive into the city’s condition and interactions with the people in her story.”

However, Jogja Kembali was not free of constructive criticism. “I didn’t like the length of its paragraphs.” Basar Daniel thought that it was better to write in short paragraphs to keep the readers from feeling that they were wasting their time.

On the other hand, Tori praised Shopia’s poetic diction but reminded others that “not everyone is good with poetry, and it’s okay. You don’t have to be Shopia. You don’t have to do it as others do, you’ll find your own way.”

Now that everyone understood the judges’ perspectives, MCI was closed with closing statements by the winners. Would you like to see the winning works? They will be published digitally in February and April 2023 editions of M! Magazine (Majalah Inspirasi Maranatha), so wait for their release! See you at the next Maranatha Creative Intervarsity! (sj)