The Winners of the “Pregúntales a los Nonos” Contest shall be chosen among the 150 winning stories.

Through a short story contest, the population of the municipality of California (Santander) were invited to write their own story. On October 27, 2023, the awards will be held in the categories: children, youth and open.

Bucaramanga, October 2023. Successful! That is the word that describes the first edition of the Short Story Conest “Pregúntale a los Nonos” organized by the Soto Norte Project. The call closed with 150 stories narrated by Californians.

For this literary initiative, people of all ages were allowed to participate, which led to an admirable integration of the families of this municipality around their identity and memory. In addition, it became a motivation for hundreds of people, who let their imagination fly and wrote their own story from tales, traditions, legends, and myths.

En total, en la categoría infantil, se inscribieron 38 niños y niñas, que se encuentran cursando entre primero y quinto grado; en la categoría juvenil, 84 jóvenes de secundaria, que se encuentra cursando entre sexto y undécimo grado; y, en la categoría abierta, 28 adultos apasionados por la escritura y la cultura del municipio.

“It has been a wonderful experience. This contest sought to honor our 'nonos' or grandparents, they should be the protagonists, and we can safely say that we succeeded. About 63 “nonos became a source of inspiration. Next Friday, October 27th , we will know the winners, although all who decided to write deserve a very special acknowledgement. From Soto Norte Project, we are very proud that this activity allowed us to strengthen family ties because our social model measures the company's achievements through social welfare", said Yaneth Mantilla, Vice president of Strategic Affairs at Soto Norte Project.

The only requirement established was that writers focused their story on six issues: Californian cultural identity, b) the mining work, c) social relationships, d) the role of woman, e) fantastic stories, ghosts, and witches, and f) how did the pandemic change us?

Based on this, we accepted 60 stories about people or representative groups, how they communicate or relate to each other; 34 fantastic stories about the myths told by the 'nonos' at family gatherings; 32 stories about the work of mining, a profession that fills us with pride; 15 writings about what the 'nonos' did, music, art, California traditions; 5 anecdotes about how the pandemic changed us and 4 memories of how transcendental the role of women has been.

"The Soto Norte Project is based on a social model that measures its achievements through community well-being. The Soto Norte Project recognizes as its greatest success to build a province that is united, happy, and proud of its identity," Mantilla concluded.