Joëlle Douma wins the Stijlvoltreffer 2024 writing competition

Joëlle Douma (5 VWO) from the Gomarus College in Groningen has won the Stijlvoltreffer 2024 writing competition with her story Ik haat Hanna (I hate Hanna). Joëlle wrote her story about a girl who seems to dislike the behaviour of a classmate. The writing competition was organised by the Dutch language profile enhancement team of the UG’s Faculty of Arts.

Preparation during the Week of Dutch

During the Week of Dutch, students of the northern provinces were prepared to become writers in a workshop carousel. Among other things, they learned about their own writing approach, genre and the theme ‘Stolen’. Ambassadors of the Week of Dutch, Mohamed Ouaamari and Cesar Majorana performed on the theme ‘New in Dutch’. After the workshops, students were given a month to write their stories.  

Light-hearted yet moving

In total, seventy enthusiastic students from seventeen secondary schools in the region participated in the competition. The best fifteen stories were presented to an expert jury. The jury consisted of Marja Pruis (guest writer of the UG 2024/2025), Lilian Zielstra (poet and writer), Catharina Flisijn (Dutch teacher at CSG Lauwers College), Jarick van der Wal (student of Dutch Language and Culture at the RUG) and Vincent Kormann (writer and coordinator of Schrijversvakschool).

On 9 December, Marja Pruis announced the winners at a festive award ceremony. The jury praised Joëlle for her pointed style. Her text is light-hearted yet moving, with a beautiful twist at the end. Throughout the story, she manages to hold the tension. She received a prize of 200 euros and her story will be published in the Dagblad van het Noorden on Wednesday 11 December.

The second prize went to Lusa Bouwma (4 vwo) from the Stad & Esch Lyceum in Meppel. Tess Rink (4 vwo), also from Stad & Esch Lyceum Meppel, came third with her story.

Marja Pruis not only handed out the prizes, but closed the evening with a College Tour on the theme ‘’How to Become a Writer‘’.

>>> Read Ik haat Hanna, by Joëlle Douma (in Dutch)