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16 | 01945 A budding talent grabs a global prize By Steve Krause Cate Cole won the top prize in an international writing contest. Courtesy Photo: Cate Cole Imagine you're a wolf. A lone wolf. Wolves are very social, as we all know. They live in packs. They share everything, up to and including the raising of pups. Within their packs, they have a social structure that includes an alpha — the male who essentially runs the pack. They have all sorts of social cues that they follow instinctively. But Cate Cole, 11, a Village School student in Marblehead, only had one page in which to tell her story about a wolf caught in a forest fire, alone and struggling for survival. Anything more than one, she figured, would waste too much space with back stories. Cate (actually Catherine) is a rising sixth grader who loves to write. And it just so happened that last year — a year in which most everyone, but especially school children, had to learn creatively — Book Creator and Planet Classroom teamed up for a global writing contest geared toward youth ages 11 through 18. Planet Classroom is an initiative "by youth, for youth," according to its website, which tries to reimagine how education is provided to school children. Book Creator is the leading tech platform for creative original books; it is popular with teachers looking to help students achieve literacy skills. Together, the two organizations embarked on a writing challenge for school students in which they had just one page — using the Book Creator app — to write a story. They also had to read it aloud, and provide an illustration. Entries to this contest were submitted by writers from 25 countries. Cate's story about the lone wolf that escaped the forest fire, called "As Flames Rise," won the top prize. Metaphysically speaking, "As Flames Rise" tells of how one crisis, in a split second, can change lives. The wolf must run to safety, but he must also depend on other forest creatures, regardless of species, to get him through. Cate developed her interest in writing along several fronts. Her father, August, is a published author. Any Room, Any Home, Anywhere In the ceiling,on the wall, ductwork or no ductwork. We have an energy-efficient heating and air conditioning system for your home. 978-381-4224
Fall 2021 | 17 "I remember when I was younger, seeing him write at the dining-room table," she recalls. "Finally, he said 'why don't you try writing?'" Cate said. "I love the freedom and the way you can express yourself in it." She also developed a relationship with Liz Pruett, her library teacher at the Village School. "I have her to thank for this (the award)," Cate said. "She told us a little bit about the contest, but said it wasn't mandatory that we do it. But I decided to enter it; it just seemed like a great opportunity." The trick was to keep the story to one page, because it had to fit into a specially-designed portfolio. There wasn't a word count per se, as long as the type was readable ("I presume if you made the type too small to read, you'd have points taken off"), and it fit on a page, anything went. There was also no category. "I call it 'realistic fiction,'" she said about her story. "You could write about whatever you wanted. It just had to fit the criteria of one page." Easier said than done, Cate said. "I originally had it at two pages, and I asked Ms. Pruett, and she said it had to be one," Cate said. "You use a lot of action verbs." As you can imagine, Cate loves animals. Her family has a rescue dog — "Tuukka," named for the Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask "that's a combination German Shepherd and Husky mix, we think. He can be a bit stubborn at times, but he's usually a pretty mellow dog. And he's gentle, too." She was inspired to write about a wolf by reading another book about one which, like her tale, presents the story from the animal's point of view. "I found that fascinating," she said. So, when she set the parameters of her story, she chose the same path. "We humans perceive the world much differently than animals," she said. "In this case, the wolf was just living by himself in the forest and doing well." She wasn't trying to make any kind of social statement about her animal being a lone wolf. Practicality entered into the picture, too. "I didn't have enough room for more than one character, or to make any kind of a backstory," she said. "I only had one page. "He'd gotten used to his way of life," she said, "but he sensed something was wrong. He could smell that horrible, 'burnt toast' smell. "All animals have an instinct to survive. And that's what they bonded over as they were running away from the fire," she said. While she knew, also instinctively, some animals would not survive, "I didn't write about that. The wolf survives, though." And, of course, so did her story. "When Ms. Pruett came into my room in the middle of math class and told me my story had won, I was shocked," Cate said. Her prize was a $100 Amazon gift certificate, which she used to buy a Garmin fitness watch. "You can track any sport on it," she said. "I rock climb, so it was helpful. I like the woods and all of nature." So is there a lesson in all of this? "I would probably want the lesson to be that if you're in a very hard situation, and everyone else is different than you — no matter how different — you work and find common ground." Remodel Reward Earn up to $2000 With purchase of select, customizable Café appliance suites. Now Thru 12/31/21 DISCOVER THE DIFFERENCE AT TRI-CITY SALES! Three Generations & Family Owned Serving the North Shore for Over 60 Years CALL OR TEXT EITHER ONE OF OUR LOCATIONS 262 Highland Ave Salem, MA 978.774.6100. 95 Turnpike Rd. Ipswich, MA 978.412.0033. SHOP ONLINE: tri-city-sales.com
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