It was annnounce in Mid-July that the only first prize of short sci-fi of university group in the 1st National Youngster Original Sci-fi Works Contest went to USTC. It was the Old Crazy Guy under The Bridge written by ZU Yiming, a senior student of School of the Gifted Young. And the other three sci-fi woks from USTC also got rewarded.
This one-year contest received over 4000 works themed on Future China, from participants ranging in region and education background. After these works being carefully assessed and selected by the committee consisting of experts, including Academician OUYANG Ziyuan and Academician JIN Li, 70 competitors varying in ages won the prize. Prizes of short sci-fi and micro fiction among university participants set as follows: 1 first prize, 2 second prizes, and 3 third prizes and recognition awards respectively.
The award ceremony/ Provied to USTC News Center
ZU received the exclusive first prize of its category among university participants; Dawn finished by YUAN Kaixin, a senior undergraduate of School of Earth and Space Science, was rewarded with the third price; Father composed by WEI Zheyuan, also a senior student of School of the Gifted Young, won the recognition award. The micro fiction War of Genesis completed by SHEN Jiafei, a 2015 graduate of Department of Scientific Communication of School, received the third prize of its category among university participants
ZU Yiming's certificate./Provided to USTC News Center
Connection between time and parallel cosmos is mainly demonstrated in the fiction Old Crazy Guy under The Bridge; the fiction also has a mixed genre of time travelling and mystery, and hypotheses and explanations on parts relevant to time, parallel cosmos and human brains include. “I am honored to have my novel recognized by more people. The thick atmosphere of physical thinking is likely to be the reason for winning the prize, which I gradually leaned from the experience in USTC and communication with schoolmates. The scientific and rational way of thinking in my school must be the key of making my composition extraordinary.” shared by ZU Yiming when knowing the award.
WANG Guoyan, the instruction teacher of the sci-fi works in USTC, told us: “Although this is the very first time for me to guide students to participate the contest, all the four novels received prizes. The result is surprising while reasonable, since though students of USTC may not be of certain advantages in traditional field of literature and art composition, they are competitive in contests based on science and technology.”
Seizing the rising surge of composition in sci-fi works has be observed nationwide in the past two years, WANG Guoyan, teacher of Department of Scientific Communication, has cultivated excellent innovations in popularization of science with the help of a newly-established course Creative Popularization of Science; then she promoted the composition of creative sci-fi works by a university-scale popularization of science competition Spark of Scientific Intelligence. Ultimately WANG recommended several representative works to compete in the national contest through Department of Scientific Research. Besides presenting the unique features of USTC campus culture, this activity stimulates innovation in science of students and enables the imagination to soar beyond limitations from the real world while to root deeply in profound scientific essentials, which is the advantage and potential of characteristic humanities in USTC.
This competition was jointly held by Communication Center of Science and Technology of Ministry of Science and Technology and National Institute of Education Sciences of Ministry of Education. The fiction Old Crazy Guy under The Bridge was recommended by Department of Scientific Research, Youth League Committee and Department of Scientific Communication of School of Humanities of USTC.
