Digital Silence by Leila Djuric
2025 winner: Grades 10 to 12 category
Digital Silence by Leila Djuric is the winner of the 2025 First Page student writing challenge in the Grades 10 to 12 category.
Students across Canada wrote the first page of a novel set 150 years in the future, imagining how a current-day trend or issue has played out. About 1,000 students submitted their stories.
The shortlist was selected by a team of expert CBC readers. The winners were selected by YA writer S.K. Ali.
Djuric, 17, a student at Rosedale Heights School of The Arts in Toronto, writes about AI taking over social media.
[CONSUMPTION 2 ENGAGED]
Shot after shot, I mimic Eliana's exaggerated movements, slamming the glass onto the table. Around me, the room pulses with life. Neon lights slice through the smoky haze, illuminating the faces of intoxicated club-goers. I blend in perfectly. That's what I'm designed to do. I turn my attention to Eliana, who sways lightly. Her unsteady movements are my unspoken cue to follow in her steps.
[INTOXICATION ENGAGED]
A feeling of unsteadiness floods my system as I lean against the bar for support, forehead sweating profusely. This setting is designed to help me blend in seamlessly with them. Yet, I can't help but wonder who would willingly choose this. Drunkenness makes people vulnerable, even fragile.
Eliana's body suddenly collides with mine. She grabs onto my shoulders for stability, pulling me out of my spiral and forcing me to refocus on the scene unraveling around us. A grin spreads across my face, and she mirrors it.
"Let's go back to the group," she slurs out.
As we navigate back, my gaze sweeps across the room: predatory smiles, invasive touches, inebriated bodies slumped like discarded objects. It's not my role to intervene, but maintaining trust means playing the part of a concerned friend. When one of the men leans too close, I prepare to step in .
[INTOXICATION DIS-ENGAGED]
Eliana grabs my arm, stopping me. Her grip is firm, too steady for someone as drunk as she appears. "Don't," she says, her voice calm and stable. "They're fine. They can handle themselves."
Her words conflict with my analysis. My directive is clear: protect, infiltrate, observe. Yet her tone makes me pause. I tilt my head slightly, recalibrating.
"They don't need saving," she continues, "Not from you."
Before I can respond, she steps closer and presses her lips against mine.
The kiss floods my system with sensory input: warmth, pressure, the faint taste of alcohol on her lips. My programming doesn't prioritize this kind of interaction, but something stirs. a strange warmth spreading through me like a glitch in my system.
As she pulls back and our eyes meet, something flickers in her gaze. An anomaly that shouldn't be there. Her pupils contract and dilate unnaturally fast, syncing with the strobe lights around us. And then I see it: a faint glow beneath the surface of her irises, pulsing rhythmically.
My processors spike with realization: She's like me.
About The First Page student writing challenge
CBC Books asked students to give us a glimpse of the great Canadian novel of the year 2175. They wrote the first page of a book set 150 years in the future, with the protagonist facing an issue that's topical today and set the scene for how it's all playing out in a century and a half.
Two winning entries — one from the Grades 7 to 9 category and one from the Grades 10 to 12 category — will be chosen by bestselling YA author S.K. Ali.
Her books include the YA novels Saints and Misfits, Love from A to Z and Love from Mecca to Medina. She has also ventured into children's books with her picture book The Proudest Blue and the middle-grade anthology she co-edited, Once Upon an Eid which won the Middle East Book Honor Award in 2020.
Her latest novel explores a different genre to everything she has done before — dystopian science fiction. In Fledgling: The Keeper's Records of Revolution, the first of a YA duology, two Earths are on the brink of self destruction.
Winners will receive...
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A one-year subscription to OwlCrate, which sends fresh boxes of books to young readers across Canada on a monthly basis.
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50 free YA books for their school library
You can read the complete rules and regulations here.
Last year's winners were Toronto's Anya Thadani in the Grades 7 to 9 category for Fixed and Kleefeld, Man's Hayley Peters in the Grades 10 to 12 for Forbidden Realities.
The winner was announced on CBC Books on June 12, 2025.
