Our editorial team really enjoyed the complexity and sensitivity in this essay. We also admired how deftly it used personal experience to explore the complicated motivations that people have, when responding to oppression.

There is a maturity and knowingness in the voice and prose. The story is filled with fresh sentences, wisdom with bite, and relational truth. It's not just the characters we believe in but their entire ecosystem.

The whole editorial team here at Soft Punk was absolutely blown away by Claire’s story, "Touched," and we selected it out of an enormous number of excellent submissions as the winner of our 2021 fiction competition.

Claire was always a pleasure to work with. She’s extremely meticulous with an excellent eye for detail, while also being highly creative. As her manager, I could always trust her to turnaround high quality work to tight deadlines, knowing she would never drop the many balls we were juggling. She writes beautifully, both at work and as hobby, and also has a great talent for illustration. Claire would be an asset to any organisation and I would love the opportunity to work alongside her again.

Claire has a pedant's affection for detail, and an artist's understanding of words and how they resonate. That combination is rare to find.

Claire showed academic aptitude above and beyond her age. Most notably, her written works were exemplary and revealed her vast knowledge of art history and literature. I find it imperative to point out her precise written grammar and superb vocabulary. Moreover, the profundity of insights revealed her genuine passion for the arts. Additionally, Claire’s acute observational skills make her a quick learner. Her positive attitude and balanced temperament can make any workplace fun and interesting.