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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 JULY 2015 This Week 43 Virtù Ferries This week's winner is MARIA SCHEMBRI who collected her two tickets from Virtù Ferries MaltaToday and Virtù Ferries have teamed up to take one lucky winner and a companion every week to Sicily, with two tickets to be won every week in our photography competition. Already been on holiday? Good: we're sending you back if your best photograph from your holidays and travels makes the cut. That's right: send us a good quality image of your holidays and we'll send the best one to the gateway of Italy with Virtù Ferries. Malta - Sicily Express Ferries For more information visit www.virtuferries.com or contact by telephone 23491000 RULES OF THE COMPETITION maltatoday Conditions apply: 1. Tickets for each week's competition can only be won by one person who submits one entry of a high-res image with description. Entrants with more than one entry WILL NOT be considered. Entrants must send a description of photo. 2. Winners will be informed before the end of the week, and then announced on maltatoday.com.mt and MaltaToday on Sunday. 3. By entering this offer, entrants consent to their photos being published and owned by Mediatoday Co Ltd. 4. The entrant with the best photograph will be awarded two (2) return tickets, valid for travel to any Virtù Ferries destination. Mediatoday's decision is final. 5. Tickets are issued free of charge, excluding port charges, and in accordance with Virtù Ferries' rules and regulations. All taxes and charges are to be paid accordingly by the winning entrant upon the issuance of tickets. 6. This offer is closed to employees and contributors of Mediatoday Co. Ltd and Virtù Ferries, or their family members. This week's theme: Travel SEND US PHOTOS FROM YOUR FA FA F VOU AVOU A RITE HOLIDAY AY A PHOTO COMPETITION Photos should be a hi-res image (one per individual entry) with a sentence or two about what inspired you to take your photo. Entrants are kindly reminded not to send in personal family pictures that might be unrelated to theme subjects unless expressly requested. If sending a photo by post, address it to: 'MaltaToday photo competition', Mediatoday, Vjal ir- Rihan, San Gwann, SGN9016 Please supply your daytime telephone number, your name, your home address and an email address. Send the photo via email on info@mediatoday.com.mt [SUBJECT HEADING: MaltaToday photo competition] by next Friday at 9am. Themes may change from one week to the other FOR most adults, dealing with the world of teenagers feels like gazing at an abstract work of art of which they cannot make sense. A kind of mystery that retains its cryptic nature, even though it is exposed to them on a daily basis in the form of rosy dreams and shattered hopes. It's like a show on a stage where they once did perform but from which nowadays they have been blown away by the power of time to be placed forever among the passive audience. X'Aħna Smart!, winning novel of the 2014 Literary Contest 'Novels for Youth' organised by National Book Council and Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, delves into this mysterious world of the younger generation of our time. Stephen Lughermo, a young au- thor at his first novel, achieves this from a completely original perspective, with a smartphone as the sole narrator, opening a window onto the virtual world of technology which today's youngsters consider as their nat- ural habitat. Sarah, the main character in the novel, is a teenager facing major communication problems with her mother. Thanks to her friend, Nicole, her grandma, Gw- ida, and later on, her boyfriend, Robert, she somehow manages to find the social support need- ed to survive in the challenging teenage world. The unexpected disappearance of Robert, how- ever, plunges her into an adven- ture concerning her mother's past, some unscrupulous pho- tographers and the silent cry for help of a fellow teenager. All this is conveyed by the highly loyal, and somewhat fearful, smart narrator who accompanies Sa- rah every step of the way and who, together with her, experi- ences in his own distinct way the emotions that lighten and darken her life. Consequently, the novel ex- plores a lot of common themes characterising today's young generation. Apart from the huge influence of technology and the risks related to social media, X'Aħna Smart! also delves into parents' absence from their chil- dren's lives, the grandparents' crucial role as part-time parents, as well as some new features of the Maltese modern family. At the same time, the novel sheds light on the exploitation and abuse of teenage weaknesses which result in suffering and anxiety faced individually by dif- ferent characters. In this sense, technology takes the double role of both enemy and ally, since within the virtual dimension, youngsters find uncertainty and peace of mind, problems and so- lutions, failures and victories. X'Aħna Smart!, therefore, is a novel that should go down well with teenagers as it reflects their own way of life, shares their ex- pectations and possible disap- pointments while utilising their everyday vocabulary. Teenagers can empathise with the char- acters of Robert and Sarah, and enjoy the emotional and ad- venturous facet of the novel which appeals to both genders. What's more, the unique narra- tor provides an additional touch of originality that should draw readers to explore this unusual style of narration. X'Aħna Smart! is published by Horizons and can be found for sale in all major bookstores 'Youth Novels' winner gets published