“Not to mention, she is the youngest creator we have in the programme. Please give it up for the prestigious Isabel Lim!”
The emcee’s words echoed across the room, applause reverberated against the walls, and for a second, I wasn’t sure whether to smile politely, wave awkwardly, or crawl under the stage and never come out again. Prestigious? Me? I was only 14, the youngest in the programme, standing in front of people whose resumes probably had more pages than the books on my shelf.
Then I remembered what Ms Janice, the CEO of Newswav, had said earlier in her speech: “You can write at any age, and you can still attract readers.” It wasn’t just a line, it was a reminder that perhaps I had earned my place after all.
When I first started writing for Newswav, I didn’t have a grand plan. I wasn’t sure what genre I belonged to, or even what kind of writer I wanted to become. I simply wrote. Sometimes it was messy, sometimes it was raw, but it was always real. Each article felt like a small experiment, a test of whether my words could carry weight.
And yes, being young made it awkward at times. I often felt like an imposter in a room full of adults. People twice or even three times my age had life experiences I hadn’t even begun to live through, yet here I was trying to write into the same world. I sometimes wondered if readers looked at my age and thought, What could she possibly know?
But that is where Newswav changed everything. It became proof that honesty speaks louder than age, that sincerity connects more than credentials. It gave me space to grow, to stumble, to try again. And most importantly, it gave me the belief that my words had the right to exist, even when I was just 12 and still now at 14.
For that, I owe deep thanks to Ms Janice and her team. They didn’t just offer me a platform, they gave me courage. They showed me that passion and voice matter far more than the number written on a birth certificate.
Along this journey, I discovered something else: youth is not a weakness, it is a different kind of strength. Youth carries curiosity, honesty, and sometimes the bravery to ask questions that adults may avoid. I may not have decades of wisdom, but I do have the courage to begin. And very often, that is the hardest step of all.
I used to think writing was about having answers. Now I realise it is just as much about asking questions, and daring to say, “This is how I see the world right now,” knowing full well I may see it differently tomorrow.
And maybe that is the beauty of writing young. It captures a voice that will never exist again in quite the same way. Years from now, I will look back at these words and see not just sentences, but the reflection of who I was, the courage it took to share them, and the spark that first drove me to write.
So no, I don’t quite think of myself as “prestigious.” I think of myself as someone who is still learning, still fumbling forward one sentence at a time, and still occasionally wondering whether my metaphors make sense. But perhaps that is exactly what makes this journey worthwhile.
Because age is just a number. But words, when written with honesty and heart, can last far longer than the years behind the person who wrote them.
Isabel Lim (isabellimyt@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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