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Winning Entry: 1st Student's Choice, Student's Voice Essay Writing Contest

We celebrate the Library and Information Services Month every November through Proclamation No. 837, s. 1991. Moreover, this coming November 24 to 30, we also celebrate the 83rd National Book Week with the theme, "Libraries Take Action: Providing Access and Opportunity for All". Thus it is but fitting to publish the winning entry of the 1st Student's Choice, Student's Voice Essay Writing Contest on this month. 

Fierce Midnights
by Dianne Gomez, BSA 5-2, PLV

“It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.” Cassandra Clare once quoted in Clockwork Prince, the second installment of Infernal Devices Trilogy that inspired millions of young adult readers all over the world. 

Visualize a world without poetry and literature. It will be a journey to the abyss –pure darkness. There will be no Lord Tennyson, Shakespeare, Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, and other great authors. Even Harry Potter will not be born. On the contrary, there are plenty of nights when my mind is whirling thousands of thoughts wondering what will happen to Percy Jackson and to that not-so-cool-underworld-dude, Hades.  Or what will the Der Erlkonig (Goblin King) do as an immortal beloved? Tick-tock. It was already twelve o’clock in the midnight. Progress: Eighty-one percent, page two hundred seventeen, part four. The Goblin King went livid, an ashen-gray color. But I … I was flush with life and fervor –heck! I spared a glance at the clock. Two am. Not. That. Fast.

Those moments will put a silly smile on my face when I remembered how close I am to insanity. Reading is already part of my life. It is what I desire. What I longed for. My usual smirk will turn into a full-blown smile when I counted the sum of money my mom gave to me. A couple of bills spared. I can go for two or maybe three days straight without having a break to save money and slipping it in a dilapidating little brown envelope. After class, I hurried myself to the bookstore nearby, gasping and a little bit flushed. My eyes darted to the newly stacked collector’s edition book and I almost shouted to the poor staff to hand me the precious book (Totally an *ss. Nah –I am astonishingly good though. “Try me on a day that doesn’t end in y.”) The urge to read it intensified. That’s how reading made me lose myself. It has no limit, for I can discover worlds in which I am the superior, I have the power to alter time and I have access to travel places for which I have thousands of free rides waiting for me.

The modest may take over the earth but I will inherit the millions of worlds around me. There will be no words how to describe it, but there will be thousands of pages to prove it.

 Being the winner of this contest, Dianne and her friend went to the 38th Manila International Book Fair and was able to choose books from Fully Booked which will be a part of the library collection at the new and much anticipated main campus. She was also given a Certificate of Recognition, pocket money, free transportation, and food.
At the 38th Manila International Book Fair, SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia
At Fully Booked
Thank you for joining, Dianne! And to everyone, thank you for your support towards our academic and local libraries.

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Location: Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Philippines

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