It was boring, and there was little skill attached. I know that because I have been reading a book a day for 63 years, and I know good writing when I see it. I was also an editor for two publishing houses in London and I have been published since 1962/3.

I also took the liberty of sharing the link with my friends - all of whom are readers and none of whom are writersfor Medium. They all struggled to read it and mentioned things like it was boring and longwinded. The piece does not flow - it doesn't have the rhythm of good wriing. A lot of it could mildly be classified as purple prose.

And since when are essays personal stories about key moments in one's life? If that is what you wnated, then you should hae put that in the entry requirements. An essay can be about a great many things - none of them to do with one's personal life.

I also attempted to read one of the finalists. Her second sentence had misplaced word order - a time phrase before a place phrase. In English, place comes before time.

I tried to read a piece from one of the nominated winners. Same thing. Then, again, there is nothing that bores me more than than 'key moment's in people's lives, and I may be at fault there. I was born and bred in Africa. I have seen more violence, rape, starvation, and hell on earth than is ripe for my humanity. Forgive me, if I'm not impressed by all these 'key moments.

I was looking forward to reading well written stories on climate change, the pandemic, zoonotic diseases, the sixth mass extinction currently taking place, and a thousand other things.

Instead I was bombarded with a lot of minor experiences on a planet with 8 billion people where the greatest story on earth is our extinction within 80 years.

And nobody is writing it.