William Shakespeare is supposed to have been born on April the 23rd in 1564 and is said to have died on April the 23rd in 1616. Miguel de Cervantes is also known to have died on the same day and year as Shakespeare. April the 23rd became then a designated day to celebrate the originality and creativity of two of the best-known writers in literature.

Keeping this in mind, language High School teachers proposed their students to create an original written text of their own from one of the following Shakespeare’s most famous quotations:

• To be or not to be: That is the question in Hamlet.

• What’s done can’t be undone in Macbeth.

• Talking isn’t doing in Henry the VIII.

• All that glitters is not gold inThe Merchant of Venice.

• Better three hours too soon than a minute too late in the Merry Wives of Windsor.

 

 

These 5 quotations did not seem to be enough for the Catalan High School teachers who proposed their students to design their own book faces. Perhaps inspired by their Catalan colleagues, the philosophy High School teachers thought that a literary contest could provide students with a chance to write about current moral dilemmas, such as:

• If democracy is the reflection of people’s willingness, what happens when this willingness targets at the exclusion of minorities by rejecting their rights ?

• In the claim of euthanasia are the applicant’s rights the only ones to be considered, or are the applicant’s relatives’ rights also to be considered ?

• Must the creation of an artificial intelligence, thought to play the role of a friend, be allowed ?

• Which of the following must be the main role of a state: guarantee people’s happiness, protect people’s rights or look for the economic profit of all the society ?

 

With all these braistorming ideas, the next step was to facilitate students volunteer involvement in the submission of an original, creative, accurate composition which reflected student’s creativity in any of the topics mentioned. The brand new online High School magazine revistamercaderies.cat was the perfect site for students to sign up for the literary and philosophy contest: in less than two weeks, 137 students signed up for it, with the following distribution:

LEVEL	TOT	CAT	SPA	EN	FR	PHI	BF
1 ESO	46	10	11	0	0	0	25
2 ESO	31	19	6	5	0	0	1
3 ESO	8	1	5	2	0	0	0
4 ESO	19	11	4	3	1	0	0
1 BTX	29	1	1	1	0	26	0
2 BTX	4	2	1	1	0	0	0
TOTAL	137	44	28	12	1	26	26

TOT-Total number of students

CAT-Catalan compositions

SPA-Spanish compositions

EN-English compositions

FR-French compositions

PHI-Philosophy compositions

BF-Book face

The organization of the literary contest where students could develop their original compositions without access to the internet and in a comfortable environment was a drawback because of the lack of such big facilities in school. That is why, the contest was held in two different Mondays, on March the 24th and March the 31st at the school theatre room from 9 to 11 a.m with students facing up to distinct Shakespeare’s quotations and moral dilemmas in every different Monday, so that the contest conditions were equal for everybody. It was a privilege for the teachers who supervised the contest to watch the school theatre room full of students who wrote willingly for the sake of creativity and originality for over two hours.

After the student’s submissions of their compositions in a closed envelop with their nickname, course and category, Catalan, Spanish, English, French and philosophy teachers underwent the difficult task of selecting the best composition for each one of the categories and courses mentioned. Throughout the revision process, teachers read wonderful stories, poems and essays, as well as watched surprising book faces which show the creative and critical thinking that most students have today by themselves without the need of using artificial intelligence at all. Only your mind, imagination and knowledge was enough to write accurately and beautifully in the languages taught at high school, and to express an unexpected message with the cover of a book and a face. So, do not ever drop your imagination and thinking, because everything is possible with just the two of them ! Keep up thinking and dreaming big !

Thanks for participating in the contest and congratulations to all of you for your awesome pieces of work. Here you can read the names and nicknames of the artists together with the titles of their best creations according to the jury composed of the Catalan, Spanish, English, French and philosophy teachers at High School. You are also invited to read and watch the students’ creations in the online High school maganize revistamercaderies.cat very soon.

1st ESO AWARDS
PRIZE AND CATEGORY	NAME	NICKNAME	TYPE OF WORK	TITLE
1st prize in Catalan	Marta Martí Claramunt	2012	Poem	Parlar no és fer
2nd prize in Catalan	Aina Balcells Roca	Holi	Story	Parlar no és fer
1st prize in Spanish	Nella Gallegos Aumala	Nemo	Story	Volver al pasado
2n prize in Spanish	Arlet Querol Bartra	Nata	Story	Hablar no es hacer
1r prize in book face	Arlet Pons Berzosa	La flor blava	Book face	Prenent el sol
2n prize in book face	Carlota Busquests Bertran	Lota	Book face	Els pètals vermells
Recognition in book face	Unai Castaño Fernández	Don Snuper	Book face	Té nassos

 

2nd ESO AWARDS
PRIZE AND CATEGORY	NAME	NICKNAME	TYPE OF WORK	TITLE
1st prize in Catalan	Carla Ruiz Ramon	Mandonguilla	Story	Per què ser o no ser ?
2nd prize in Catalan	Uma Navarro Garcia	El centpeus	Poem	No hi ha volta enrere
1st prize in Spanish	Laila Latrache	Lluna plena	Story	Ser o no ser
2nd prize in Spanish	Alba Fernández Suau	Caracola	Story	Hay heridas que permanecen de por vida
1st prize in English	Manel Soumah Ramírez	Manolo	Story	Careless Fini
2nd prize in English	Magí Caminal València	Foco Volador	Story	Am I real ?

 

3rd ESO AWARDS
PRIZE AND CATEGORY	NAME	NICKNAME	TYPE OF WORK	TITLE
1st prize in Catalan	Laia Fontanals Balsells	Mosquit	Story	No a la societat
1st prize in Spanish	Leyre Valcárcel Pedrero	Valey bee	Story	Todo lo que brilla no es oro
2nd prize in Spanish	Paula Martínez Vázquez	Cat 727	Story	Opciones
1st prize in English	Lina Tan	Agammemnom	Story	Night
2nd prize in English	Elsa Nolla Conill	Paret blanca	Story	Money doesn’t fix real problems

 

4th ESO AWARDS
PRIZE AND CATEGORY	NAME	NICKNAME	TYPE OF WORK	TITLE
1st prize in Catalan	Pol Ruiz Ramon	Un il.lustre Senyor	Poem	L’anell de ribes blaves
2nd prize in Catalan	Clàudia Tuchía Suàrez	Persona anònima	Story	Millor tres hores massa aviat que un minut massa tard
Recognition in Catalan	Marina Bertran Esparrach	Petita estrella	Poem	Brilles
1st prize in Spanish	Blai Carrión Rivera	Caminante de verano	Story	Último día de verano
2nd prize in Spanish	Mercè Gutiérrez Tirado	Luna de estrellas	Story	Cicatrices
1st prize in English	Liezer Serwaa Dawaase	Incredible Lady	Story	All that glitters is not gold
2nd prize in English	Arlet Sánchez Mas	Gold Rose	Story	All that glitters is not gold
1st prize in French	Lluc Ferrer i Monclús	La baguette	Poem	Ce n’est pas or tout ce qui brille

 

1st batxillerat AWARDS
PRIZE AND CATEGORY	NAME	NICKNAME	TYPE OF WORK	TITLE
1st prize in Catalan	Berta Martín Bordas	Margarita II	Story	Ser o no ser, aquesta és la qüestió
2nd prize in Catalan	Marc Salvador Borrega	Maria Ordóñez	Poem	Un jardí d’accions
1st prize in Spanish	Berta Martín Bordas	Margarita II	Story	Para Diego
1st prize in English	Blanca Pectu	Turrón de chocolate	Story	Life goes on
1st prize in philosophy	Jana Martín Vives	Sol d’hivern	Essay	S’ha de permetre la creació d’una intel.ligència artificial destinada a ocupar la funció d’un amic o amiga ?

 

2nd batxillerat AWARDS
PRIZE AND CATEGORY	NAME	NICKNAME	TYPE OF WORK	TITLE
1st prize in Catalan	Bernat Pastor Villarubias	Senyor Tallaferro	poem	El camí de la redempció
2nd prize in Catalan	Bástian Fernández Tarazona	Bariato	Poem	Vivia amb un escurçó
1st prize in Spanish	Xavi Marimon Vilanova	El somiador	Poem	Un periodo de la vida
1st prize in Spanish	Bástian Fernández Tarazona	Bariato	Poem	Actions over words

 

Student’s creativity went on during April the 23rd, as theatre students of 1st batxillerat together with his teacher performed their world premiere, Radio Resistència, in front of the whole high school. A Shakespearelike comedy with a joyful mix of Catalan and English where the inhabitants of a threatened world tried to survive an unkown enemy while trapped in a radio station. Love, passion, hatred and envy also took over their lives following the traditon of the master of classic plays.

 

The Shakespearelike play and the awards ceremony was greatly conducted by the theatre students of 2nd of batxillerat Berta Boada, Irene Corral, Roger Duran, Ares Giménez, Judith Masana, Hugo Nisa, Nayara Redondo and Dafne Sánchez who under their teacher’s supervision presented all the awards and recognised the originality and accuracy of the students’ work in the literary contest.

During the break, students and teachers kept on surrounded by stories, legends and poetry in the book-crossing market at the school main hall.

 

 

After the book-crossing market which took place at the break, students could also test their knowledge about facts and curiosities about Saint George’s Day at the trivial time from 12.30 to 13.15 p.m:

 

 

Last but not least, and to round off April the 23rd, 1st batxillerat students and physical education teachers also delighted the rest of school with surprising, towering acrosport performances.