MEDIA RELEASE
Science Chronicles is a short story writing competition for science fiction, piloted and organised by IHPC since 2008. The aims of this competition is to encourage students in Singapore to push boundaries in the art of science-fiction narration and writing, as well as foster a new breed of scientific thinkers who can combine their understanding of science, technology and their numerous application, with the art of imaginative storytelling.
Targetted at students in secondary schools and junior colleges, participants had to submit an original story between 1,500 to 3,000 words. Science Chronicles 2010 had 154 entries from 30 schools. Many of our young writers wrote believable scenarios with scientific concepts and applications woven into its storylines, while exploring the impact on the human condition through its protagonists. The winners received their prizes from Prof. Charles Zukoski, Chairman of A*STAR’s Science and Engineering Research Council.
Prof Zukoski said, “It was a delightful experience to read the stories written by our students. Most, if not all, of the science fiction themes have been covered – from advanced robots and artificial intelligence, bio-engineering, cryogenetics, time travels, exploration of new worlds and frontiers, societies in the future with advanced technologies to breakthroughs in bio-medical science. We are very pleased that this competition is able to showcase promising writers, who can make use of scientific nowledge to generate ideas on science and technology through their imaginative and yet complex, literary creations. ”
The submitted entries were first assessed on their science content by a panel of researchers from IHPC, who grew up reading science fiction stories themselves before embarking on a career in science and engineering. The shortlisted stories were next assessed by a panel of judges comprising published fiction writers and lecturers in English Literature, creative writing and creative thinking.
Dr Raj. Thampuran, Executive Director of IHPC added, “So much of our imagination has been captured, and cultures shaped, by the many talented science fiction writers who have written about technologies, exploration and inventions. In many ways these have served to inspire scientists and inventors to (re)create them years later when science and technology have caught up with imagination. Science Chronicles is our effort to nurture a generation of young writers inspired by science fiction and futures unimagined. These writers will look at our world beyond their science textbooks and create a world of plentiful opportunities."
The winning stories for Science Chronicles 2010 will be made available on-line from Monday, 12 July at www.ihpc-outreach.sg/sciencechronicles/
For more information or request for media interviews, please contact : Ms Joanne Tan, Assistant Manager, Corporate Communications at Tel: 6419 1422 or email: [email protected].
About IHPC
As a national research institute supported by A*STAR through SERC, the Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) was established in April 1998 to provide leadership in high performance computing as a strategic resource for scientific inquiry. IHPC seeks to power discoveries through advanced methodologies, techniques and new tools in modelling, simulation and visualisation.
Its research focus are in the realm of complex-coupled systems, mechanics and fluid dynamics, large-scale systems, scientific computing and software development, digital modelling, adaptive and collaborative computing, data mining and analyses, computational electronics and electromagnetics and computational material and chemistry. For more information on IHPC, please visit www.ihpc.a-star.edu.sg
Background / Synopsis of winning top stories:
Category A – Secondary Level
1st Prize - Gone
by Grace Ng, Methodist Girls’ School
A story about teleportation, its consequences and impact on those near and dear to them. According to the author, she found the concept of “dematerializing an object at one point and sending the details of that object’s precise atomic configuration to another location, where it will be reconstructed” very intriguing. Using the relationship of a couple, her story explores what happens when mistakes are made and the atoms are arranged wrongly at the other end in the teleportation process.
2nd Prize – For the Bitter and the Sweet
By Nguyen Vu Lan, St Joseph’s Institution
This is a story about the love and memories of an old loving couple, set in a future where science has given mankind the power to choose between love or memories. In this future, memories can be extracted and traded as goods. The questions the author asks: For two old souls in love, with their memories fading and their bodies rotting away, would the love they once felt for each other remain intact? If they were to choose just one thing to cling onto, would it be their memories, or their love? Or are the two at all separable, once they have shared a lifetime with each other?”
Cateogry A, 3rd Prize – Dream Runner
Sheralyn Loh, Methodist Girls’ School
A story about dreams, past memories and past lives. The author was inspired to write this story from a thought she once penned that went: “I'm not me, I'm someone else. I’ve been inserted into someone’s body. Somebody I don’t know. It’s like I’ve been turned inside out and the person I invented is my skin and I am its mind. Or has it always been the other way around.”
