A grade seven student from Crystal Park School in Grande Prairie has won an award for her comic book. A 2017 Martyn Godfrey Award went to Natasia Maputi, who goes by Ken, for her story called “In Time for You”. It took her two months to prepare the work to be entered into the contest and she ended up with the Junior High Comic Grande Prize.
“It is about a boy that is from the future. He went into the past to see a meteor shower that his mom has been talking about. During the meteor shower, he meets a girl and they fall in love. The girl got into a car accident and the guy tried to save her by going back in time again. He comes to the conclusion that the only way to save the girl is to not meet her.”
She gets her inspiration to write stories and do art from her older sister who is into manga art. With inspiration and an award under her belt, Maputi is working on her next project.
“My friend just inspired me with a new story. She is leaving [my school] and she said, since I am getting famous and all, I should make a manga about her. I am making a bunch of stories right now and I don’t know where to start.”
She says she enjoys making comic book stories but it isn’t what she wants to do forever. Instead, she wants to be a singer.
A link to her comic strip is available on Young Alberta Society’s website.