Martin Krč, The Linguistic Word Wizard, has done it again! Just like last year, Martin sharpened his pencil, warmed up his pen, or fired up his computer... or whatever he does when he writes something great, and got to work. This year when Martin decided to enter the National Literary Award for Young Writers competition he came at it full tilt. Motivated by the success of last year, Martin came to me with more than 10 stories that he had written to answer the topic of "Crossing Borders" for this year's competition.
After reading and rereading we had it narrowed down to two possibilities. Martin had recruited a small task force to help with the decision, but ultimately he took the suggestion from the smartest women in the world, my wife, and chose the story that would ultimately land us back in the beautiful city of Prague to pick up another pretty award to adorn Krč's shelf.
Once again we were put up in a really nice hotel, and once again Martin and I felt a bit out of place. Let’s just say that Martin and I are not four-star people. Martin doesn't need much and his sheer modesty is what I like most about him. He is some super-genius-writer-nerd guy with a lot of talent, and he isn't arrogant in the least bit.
We started the trip right, at a beer pub that had the most beautiful beers in the city. The plan was to get a bite to eat and then see as much of the town as possible. The only problem is that Martin and I seem to have bad luck when it comes to eating out. He isn't in to the whole meat thing and I was so excited to have a giant cheeseburger with beer fries. Being the nice guy he is, he patiently waited, and I got to eat said burger. Thanks for that, Martin!
We spent the next few hours on a gorgeous walking tour taking in the city and searching for a restaurant to get Martin some grub. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a vegetarian eatery in the center of Prague. We searched for hours and I almost felt guilty for devouring my cheeseburger. We had a nice time just the same, even though Krč seemed a bit annoyed at my excessive picture taking. He made some comment along the lines of "Why do you want to take pictures of things that someone else has already seen?" And to that I say, "Martin, look at the beautifully composed photo on the cover of this fine magazine." Ha!
The next day, we made our way to the Clementinum Mirror Chapel, where the awards ceremony would be taking place. Martin was noticeably anxious, and it was a treat for me to watch his anxiety turn to excitement as they announced the rankings. As they called the 5th place, 4th place, then the 2nd, I watched Krč’s face go through various forms of shocked disbelief. Martin won first place in his category, and he couldn’t believe it. Out of hundreds of people throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Martin Krč was on top in the category of age 17 and below. Once again, I was honored to have the chance to share in this experience, and I look forward to seeing more from Martin. Congratulations Martin!
by Matt Haarman
Year 2, Issue 2