06 August 2025
The digital magazine Flores de Nieve, published by UNAM’s Center for Spanish Language and Cultural Immersion (CEPE), has featured, in its latest edition, the winning entries of the Creative Writing Contest. This initiative, a collaboration between UNAM Chicago and Northwestern University, took place as part of the 12th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language, held this past May.
The contest aimed to celebrate the literary talent of young Spanish-speaking students in the United States. A total of 60 entries were submitted -essays, poems, and short stories- written in Spanish, English, and Spanglish by high school and undergraduate students. Through personal stories and reflections, the students showcased the richness of being bilingual and bicultural. Winners received a cash prize, a scholarship to study at CEPE, and -what we are most excited to celebrate today- the publication of their work.
As Julia Oliver-Rajan, judge and Spanish professor at Northwestern University, noted, “Each story was connected by a transparent thread: Hispanic culture and the experience of being bilingual in a country that often denies them that space.” In the essays, themes of migration, identity, and bilingualism were explored with striking maturity. “They make us think and feel biculturalism. We can hear it, smell it, see it, touch it,” said Verónica Moraga, professor at the University of Chicago.
We invite you to read these unique pieces that not only reveal literary talent, but also stand as powerful, necessary testimonies to Spanish as a living, evolving language in the United States.