ADVICE from the heart impressed judges of the popular GDNlife adult short story contest and another thriller from a prolific young writer took the U18 monthly accolade.

Indian expatriate Anuradha Pradeep Shetty picked up the BD25 prize for her entry How to teach love, which has already received more than 1,600 views on our social media platform.

“I’m a bibliophile and write blogs based on real life little things and emotional intelligence is my area of interest,” explained the 32-year-old content writer, who lives in Mahooz with her sales manager husband, Pradeep, and their children Samik, nine, and Advik, four.

“I am also a career coach. So during my training period, I understood that many teenagers lack developing emotional intelligence, which leads them to poor decision-making and confidence, which inspired this piece.

“It is surreal – I never expected to win. I don’t remember if I submitted it with the aim of winning a prize, I was just exploring a platform as I am already posting on others.

“Thank you GDNlife for this opportunity. Winning is a brownie point. The stories posted are so wonderfully selected and curated. I’m grateful for having a platform like www.gdnlife.com!”

Short story contest judge Rohini Sunderam, from Bahrain Writers Circle, described the winning entry as ‘a thought-provoking personal piece’.

Although it was Ms Shetty’s first success, 14-year-old Tanisha Biswas has been judged a winner for the fifth time since we launched the competition, now in its third year.

As reported recently in the GDN, the Bahrain-based award-winning young author has published her first book of short stories after getting her first claim to fame in the popular GDNLife short story competition.

Tanisha recently published Short Story, a collection of 12 short stories written over the last two years. The collection included Our Weakness, The Last Night of Sarah and The Prisoner Inside The Turret, all three of which won the monthly prize in the under-18 category of the GDNLife competition.

She started writing stories when she was nine-years-old, the Bangladeshi expatriate who lives in Tubli with her parents and brother, told the GDN.

Judge Chris Fenton, head teacher of the British Primary Department at Al Noor International School, described her latest entry entitled You’re welcome, which has also attracted more than 1,600 views, as ‘terrifying’.

“She managed the element of suspense very well and the pay-off was totally unexpected. It reminded me of a thriller-writer Stephen King plot. Great job, well done!” he added.

“This is my fifth time winning and I’m very grateful to each and every reader out there, plus to GDNlife for allowing me to share my stories with them,” the talented teenager said.

“The fact that there are people out there enjoying, reading and recommending my stories to others always makes my day.

“The story was inspired by my two-storey apartment. As I was walking upstairs to the first floor, I realised that I hardly happened to go to the second. What would happen if I did? My imagination went wild at that instant!”

As a result of the contest’s success there is now a special exclusive Short Story section on www.gdnlife.com for visitors to enjoy.

December 2022 entries are invited, so get writing today! Register, choose an image, create a title, paste and copy your words in text – and submit to share your work on www.gdnlife.com – clearly stating Adult or U18 entry.

Our panel of judges will also decide on who should walk away with the annual GDNLife Short Story of the Year prize trophies in both categories after the competition’s third anniversary in March 2023.

The winner of the GDNLife People’s Choice Award – the short story that has received the most views and likes – will also be announced.

managingeditor@gdnmedia.bh