Salma Laghrieb, a student at the Juan de Garay Secondary School in Valencia, is the winner of the micro-story competition of the Institute of Molecular Science (IcMol) of the University of Valencia at the level of the Valencian region. The results were announced on Friday 14 June. The contest is one of the activities in the context of the VI Festival of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 2024 (10alamenos9), which is held in various Spanish and Latin American cities to promote interest in the nanoscale world among pre-university students.

The winning work, “El telar de lo imperceptible” (The Loom of the Imperceptible), is a tribute to “the invisible realm / where the eye cannot see / where atoms silently converse”. The winner's teacher is Javier Julián Fernández. The runner-up prize went to Alejandra Pons Escudero from the Cristo Rey School, whose teacher is Sara Costa, with the work “El microscopio camino hacia la desesperanza” (The Microscope's Path to Despair).

This competition has two sections, one at the Valencian Community level and another international. At the Valencian level, there are two prizes of 200 euros for each category (participants aged 14-15 and those aged 16-17). The competition is organised by the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) in collaboration with the Science Culture Innovation Unit of the University of Valencia (UCC+i). This year, the prize in Category A (14-15 years) was awarded, endowed with 200 euros and a set of books from the UCC+i, plus another set for the runner-up, and the winner will participate in the international phase.

This competition is aimed at students in upper-secondary education (ESO, bachillerato and vocational training) aged 14 to 17 who are studying in public, semi-private or private schools located in the Valencian region. The stories must have a maximum length of 200 words and could be adventure, science fiction, fantasy or social stories, among others. Other types of written works such as poems or song lyrics could also be submitted. The only requirement was that the work was related to nanoscience and nanotechnology.