Hello, on my profile my name is Victoria Hernandez, but that's not who I am. My name is Atticus, that has been my name since 2022. The challenges I've faced, well I'm still facing them. I'm a trans-masculine individual living in Texas. I have no health insurance nor do I any financial luxury to afford hormones. I also live in a home where my chosen name is not respected or used. But I am in this home, even though I'm loved I am loved with conditions. I've had to move back in with my parents due financial difficulties and now I'm back to college despite dropping out twice for multiple reasons. My mental health has fluctuated in the past few years that even I give myself whiplash. Yet I'm still here despite it all. I'm here now to try and become better, even if the world thinks my existence is an 'indoctrination' or a 'disease'. I am still here. I want to be a writer. I've always had this need to tell stories through characters in a way to escape or to try and understand what it means to be loved and accepted for who they are no matter the circumstances. Whether it be through turned into a horror story to control the monster or be the monster, or to be swept away in a fantasy world and fight back against the tyranny of all evil. I need to write, I need to create in a world that seems hell-bent on demeaning the writers, the artists, the thespians that dare cling on to the ways of living an authentic life. It is not that I need to be recognized for my merits or to have anyone's approval, but to prove to myself that I did it. I have done what I was meant to do. To be a novelist is all I want. To be the first in my family to have college degree is all I desire. I want to create something that can inspire, to comfort, to be an escapism for someone like me. Someone who needs a small word of encouragement, whether it be by ear or a few simple words printed on a paper back. I might not get this award. I might not even have someone read it. But I'm doing it and I hope that in some way, my words resonate with you. Thank you for reading, Atticus Hernandez