As we did last year with the First Edition of the Desperta Ferro Historical Microessay Contest, we once again give a voice to our followers and readers, because we are sure that behind a great reader there is a potential writer, in our eagerly awaited II Edition of the Desperta Ferro Historical Microessay Contest , in which, in addition, we duplicate categories:Historical essay and Historical (fictional) story . Of course, you can appear in both.
The bases of this second contest were the following:
- Send us your essay/story by email, specifying the category (Essay or Story), your last name and the title in the subject line. Free
- essays/stories on historical themes, in Spanish and with an extension between 1,200-1,500 words (separate bibliography and citations).
- The new Deadline for receiving essays/stories will be April 30 .
After assessing all the texts under the historical and scientific rigor that characterizes us, the jury, made up of Javier Gómez (co-editor of Desperta Ferro), Gustavo García Jiménez (director of Archeology and History), Eduardo Kavanagh (director of Desperta Ferro Antigua y medieval) and Àlex Claramunt (director of Desperta Ferro Historia Moderna) we have chosen a winner in each category who will be presented with a premium subscription , a modality that allows you to receive all the issues of our four magazines and specials for a year, and three finalists in each category who will receive a subscription to one of our magazines (Ancient and medieval , Modern History , Contemporary or Archeology and History , to choose).
In addition, in the coming weeks we will be publishing all those essays and stories that we liked the most so that they have a good diffusion and that everyone can learn about your brilliant facet as a writer. The essays will be published on our blog, the stories on this page where they can all be read together.
Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to all the participants! We hope you all enjoy these great works.
Essay Category
Story Category
Winner
"I don't think public opinion is ready yet"
Rodrigo García-Muñoz Vaquero
In the fall of 1942, the sniper Liudmila Pavlicheko, the most famous of the million long Soviet women who served in the Armed Forces of their country during World War II, toured the United States on a propaganda tour that the entire press echoed. At the same time, in the utmost secrecy, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the US Army, was planning an experiment to test the suitability of women in his country to join combat units.
READWinner
Nabucco
Mercedes García Esteo
Act I – Jerusalem
Thus spoke the Lord:"I will give this city to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it to the ground." Jeremiah, 32
The officers relax. I see a glimmer in the blue gaze of the one who has ordered me to play a piece of Verdi. They stop their chatter and I feel how they watch. It's not me, I'm trash, it's the violin, the notes I manage to extract from this instrument, which is nothing more than the extension of my arm. As the last sound hangs in the air, I look down at the boots of the SS officer in front of me, perfect and arrogant. Someone puts some cigarettes in my pocket and orders me out. I'm done for today.
READFinalist
Fernando Poo Island. The failure of a prison colonization
Alberto Agudo
On July 9, 1861 it was published in the Madrid Gazette a Royal Order of Queen Elizabeth II signed by the then Minister of War and Overseas, D. Leopoldo O'Donnell, which established "attending to the special conditions of the island" a prison in Fernando Poo, also authorizing the Governor of the island to agree on the expenses and take the necessary measures for that purpose.
READFinalist
Adversus Haereses
Fran Blanco Torres
My dear brother, this book will be the sixth and last one I send you. I know that in the future my books will be the only thing that survives me, as well as our common hope in another life that is worthy of being called life. That's enough for me.
The life of a Christian in these difficult times is not easy.
READFinalist
Steel, gunpowder and paper. The arms of the Hispanic Monarchy
Pedro Reig Ruiz
When around the year 1641, Francesco Antonio del Carreto , imperial ambassador, arrives in the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy, which was heading inexorably towards the decline of its hegemony in Europe. The multiple fronts opened against so many enemies and so strong in the great conflagration that was the Thirty Years' War, was an excessive pulse for a monarchy that had maintained its predominance since the beginning of the Modern Age.
READFinalist
The eyes unchained
Aparicio Camel
October 18, 1871, South New Orleans .
A man rests reclining in his hammock under the porch of a gnawed wooden shack. His home is surrounded by a lagoon of considerable extension; only a small isthmus connects it to the dirt road that winds past a rickety fence. The rest of that place is a mangrove swamp, infested with cypresses, crocodiles and mosquitoes, that stretches to the horizon.
READFinalist
The Great Irmandiña War in Galicia (1467-1469)
David Riveiro Rivera
The so-called “irmandiños” wars are some popular revolts that took place in the Kingdom of Galicia. Normally, most scholars of the time recognize two wars, the first took place in 1431, and the second we can contextualize between 1467-1469. The study of the irmandiño phenomenon attracted a multitude of investigations and, even today, it is one of the best-known historical episodes in Galician society, although this knowledge is clearly limited, since since the 19th century it has been used, sometimes biased manner, by a multitude of groups whose objectives have been varied.
READFinalist
Dory Ge
Daniel Merino
he was startled awake by the aggressive swing of the seat of him. The pleasant movement that he used to rock her in that room had turned into a sharp blow, making some of his companions, notably more active, lose their balance. Had they slowed down? Even though the conditions were pressing for it, he had not been able to get used to the marine environment completely. He preferred to feel the earth beneath his feet as he thrashed about fighting in those eternal walls of weapons or riding swiftly on the magnificent horse that seemed to match his worth like no other. But now the harmonic effort of the oarsmen breaking the waves could not be heard, nor could their sweaty complaints. The fleeting silence was almost as sticky as the moisture around them. Was that possible? Were they coming to…?
READ