World Book Night 2026
On 20th April, Gimnazija Vič held its annual event linked to World Book Night. This celebration of books and reading has been a major part of our English department's calendar for over a decade and brings students from our school and others around Ljubljana together to mark special literary anniversaries while also celebrating the current generation of young writers. Although this event is normally held on 23rd April to coincide with the United Nations Day of Books and Copyright, due to other events being held in our school, the decision was made to bring it forward a few days.
Students were ready with readings and performances which all had a clear link to special occasions being acknowledged through 2026. From a celebration of Sir David Attenborough with his 100th birthday to marking 300 years since the publication of Gulliver's Travels, and from hearing traditional folk murder ballads to the songs of Stevie Wonder, there was a broad range of themes on show with something to please all tastes.
After this presentation, it was time to mark the end of the 2026 micro-story competition which is one of the biggest creative writing projects organised by our school. Hundreds of writers from both primary and secondary level education took part and this was our chance to find out which pieces were selected for special commendations.
At the start of the year, our project mentors decided on the theme for 2026. The decision was taken to mark fifty years since the death of Agatha Christie but with a focus on her short stories instead of the novels which are known so well across the generations. Words were taken from the titles of these stories and they would act as the broad themes on which the writers would base their own work. This also meant that the mystery genre and the ideas of the eras of the stories could be used for classes regarding social history in a variety of ways through the year.
Although best known for her mystery stories, there was no restriction regarding genre when it came to the competition. Instead, the writers were encouraged to think in truly original ways while bringing in elements of their own lives as well as the wildest parts of their imagination.
From the hundreds of stories, a selection was made to be included in the special booklet which was published to mark the event. Then, after the second stage of judging, a smaller group was selected to receive special commendations for their work. These were the stories which stood out for their sparks of great imagination, clever use of language, and which left the readers wanting more.
Congratulations to the winners from the primary school level:
- Vid Križan, OŠ Brezovica pri Ljubljani
- Taisiia Shapovalova, OŠ Brezovica pri Ljubljani
- Lea Marn, OŠ Dobrova
- Dora Dugon Fröbe, OŠ dr. Ivana Korošca Borovnica
- Amna Šestan, OŠ dr. Ivana Korošca Borovnica
- Nika Javornik, OŠ Kolezija
- Timotej Vodlan, OŠ Škofljica
- Mia Novak, OŠ Škofljica, PŠ Lavrica
- Amelija Potić, OŠ Škofljica, PŠ Lavrica
- Manca Trošt, OŠ Šmartno pod Šmarno goro
- Ian Lewis Killingsworth, OŠ Vič
And to the winners from the secondary school level, from across all four years at Gimnazija Vič:
- Ajda Kušlan
- Maks Štrancar
- Arne Brglez
- Julija Gorišek
- Neža Dimnik
- Živa Zgonc
- Tara Kesar
- Neža Kastelic
- Ondina Puš
- Polona Larisa Perman
- Ajda Gradišar
- Ana Larisa Šček Jernejčič
- Ela Hržič
- Kaja Rudolf
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the primary school mentors who worked so hard through the year, the Gimnazija Vič leadership team for supporting projects like this, and our school's English language book club mentors, Blanka Klobučar and Tim Gallagher, who were the main coordinators for both the overall project and the event on the day.
Special thanks must also go to all the readers, actors, singers, and musicians. With them putting on a great show through the presentation, we were really able to enjoy finding out about all the special moments in cultural history.
These projects which demonstrate the real sense of creativity within the minds of all the young writers are incredibly important and it is great to be able to bring such a group together to celebrate their achievements. We look forward to seeing the project continue with similar events in the years ahead.