Olive Branch Church · Essay Competition
2013 · Prize: NPR 4,30,000 · Winner: Sujan Adhikari
The 2013 competition, "Bridge Builders," was launched in the same year as the church's landmark Interfaith Dialogue Events, which brought together 14 faith communities across Pokhara. The essay theme reflected the church's deepening conviction that bridge-building — across religious, cultural, and socioeconomic divides — is a core expression of the Gospel.
Participants were invited to write about a moment of genuine connection across difference, or to make a theological or philosophical case for the importance of bridge-building in their community. Entries ranged from personal memoir to academic argument, reflecting the breadth of the prompt.
89 entries were received — a new record. The competition was covered in the Pokhara Express newspaper, which ran a short article on the winning essay.
Unity across difference — the call to build bridges of understanding and reconciliation.
Writers were encouraged to approach the theme through personal narrative, theological reflection, argumentative essay, or a combination of these forms.
Word limit: 1,000 – 2,500 words · Language: English or Nepali
All submissions are reviewed by a panel of church elders, educators, and community representatives. Entries are scored across four weighted criteria:
Sujan Adhikari, then 24, was a schoolteacher in Pokhara-9 and had been involved in interfaith community projects since 2011. His essay, "The Rope Across the River," used the metaphor of a rope bridge to explore how small acts of daily kindness and curiosity — not grand gestures — are what truly connect people across difference. The judges called it "the most practically wise essay we have received in any competition." Sujan later became a co-organiser of the church's annual Interfaith Dialogue Events.