MAIN PHOTO: Fall River’s Braden Marshall won the Senior Gold Award for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay competition. He was presented the award by N.S. Lt. Governor the Honourable Arthur LeBlanc prior to the recent COVID-19 lockdown. (Submitted photo)
FALL RIVER: The lockdown as a result of COV ID-19 has been a blessing in disguise for one Fall River man—sort of.
With the pandemic cancelling many curricular and extra-curricular activities, Braden Marshall was able to turn his energies from those into his essay writing. That led him to being named the first Nova Scotian since the competition’s inception in 1883 to win a Senior Gold Award in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay competition, according to Marshall.
Marshall, a Lockview High student, said he was honoured to receive the award. He won for the poem he wrote, “A Deathbed of Plastic.” He was presented the award by N.S. Lt. Governor the Honourable Arthur LeBlanc prior to the recent COVID-19 lockdown.
“Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, most of my other commitments were canceled,” said Marshall. “However, due to the nature of these writing competitions and how they are already established online, I was still able to use my energies and newfound time in a productive and creative way.”
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition has been running for over a century, and now more than ever, Marshall believes it helped to create a sense of normalcy in a period of great upheaval.
“I believe holding these competitions helped to motivate me when all my other curricular and extra-curricular activities were canceled,” he said.
The 18-year-old said essay writing is one of his favorite styles of writing.
“In my opinion, there are different things to love about different forms of writing, such as the conciseness of poetry, or the creativity of a short story,” he said. “For me, essay writing has a unique style and language, and regardless of the type of essay, there is a unifying structure and rhythm.
“Essay writing is both an exercise in restraint and a display of technical skill. In this way, I enjoy the essay writing and always strive to refine my skills.”
Running since 1883, the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay competition is the oldest international writing competition for schools. Every year, the competition has a theme and there are topics within this theme to pick from. While the theme was “Climate Action in the Commonwealth,”
Marshall’s specific topic was “Why the Destruction of the Ocean is Everyone’s Concern.” Although it is called an essay competition, they allow various forms of writing to be submitted such as poems, short stories, and of course, essays.
He has always enjoyed writing and wanted to challenge myself through writing competitions.
As his English teachers can attest to, this is not the first writing competition Marshall has entered. Others include being a finalist for both the Ayn Rand Essay competition for Anthem and the Canadian Parliament Speaker’s Speech Writing competition. Most recently, he received a gold key for my writing portfolio in the Scholastic Writing and Art Awards.
“In this way, I am always looking for new ways to challenge myself and broaden my skills,” said Marshall.
Marshall said writing competitions are always fun because they are always different.
“The topics and criteria always change, and my skills are always developing,” he said. “I was especially proud of this entry, so achieving success helped to validate my writing skills.
“Considering it takes weeks and sometimes months of editing and revising to achieve final drafts I’m proud of recognition like this. It always makes the time worth it.”
