Prince George resident, Jacky Yu, 12, is the latest winner of the Polar Express National Student Short-Story Contest.
Jacky's short story, Jelly Nights, earned him the top prize of $100.
And both Jacky and his younger sister Julia were published in the compilation book, Winter Flight, published by Polar Expressions to showcase the participants in the contest.
"It's pretty awesome being in a book," said Jacky.
Jelly Nights, is the imaginative tale about brightly-coloured jelly creatures who live in the heating ducts, and after dark are brought to life by the sound of weights in a cuckoo clock.
"I just got the idea," said Jacky. "I just thought of some jelly. I decided it should be mysterious, so I wanted them to come up, but I didn't know from where. I just walked around the house and I saw the clock and the way the weights hit the floor."
He is already working on the second chapter of Jelly Nights, which starts where his first installment left off.
Julia's story, The Grand Escape, involves a hamster who escapes his cage and runs away with two squirrels.
The children's mother, Stephanie Zhu, began the siblings' journey into creative writing when she signed them up for English tutoring with Winnie Cook.
"It's been really hard drawing him out, but he has a really quirky imagination. It's really unusual what he comes up with," said Cook, who also earned $100 from Jacky's win.
Jacky plans on depositing his prize in the bank, and Cook said she'll spend her winnings on books and supplies for her students.
Cook currently has four students she tutors and said she's quite comfortable with that number. The former elementary school teacher is able to find the time to travel with her husband.
"I retired six years ago and I [wanted] to help kids. It all kind of flowed into tutoring. All four kids I tutor are Chinese, and the biggest issue is they speak one language at home and they aren't familiar with English. Grammar is a big issue for these kids and the order of words," said Cook.
The are enrolled in the French immersion program at Lac du Bois elementary school. French will be their third language along with English and Mandarin.
Their mother is not only proud of them, but she's benefitting from their education as well, she said.
"My kids teach me my English because I never had a chance to go to school," said Zhu.
"I have nothing to complain about when it comes to my kids... I'm just proud of them. I have really good kids and they care about me."
