Hiya Chowdhury, a student of Springdales School in Delhi, who submitted a short story based on India’s Partition for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, has been chosen the senior runner-up and will receive her certificate at Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) said Chowdhury’s story titled The Smallest Of Things was chosen from thousands of senior entries by judges from more than 30 countries, and eventually selected by a final panel in Cambridge earlier this month.
Chowdhury will receive the certificate from the Duchess of Cornwall later this year on behalf of Queen Elizabeth.
The overall winner in the senior category was Annika Turon-Semmens, 16, from Australia.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition was founded in 1883 and is the world’s oldest international schools’ writing contest.
The RCS said Chowdhury’s story brings to life the human experience of Partition, sensitively capturing local and family life that carries on while tensions simmer and peace hangs in the balance.
Chowdhury said: “Being named the senior runner-up this year seems almost surreal; it has given me confidence in my work, and I feel great satisfaction that I have been able to add my voice, no matter how small, to an issue that is so relevant.”
{{/usCountry}}Chowdhury said: “Being named the senior runner-up this year seems almost surreal; it has given me confidence in my work, and I feel great satisfaction that I have been able to add my voice, no matter how small, to an issue that is so relevant.”
{{/usCountry}}RCS director Michael Lake said: “The winners’ pieces are creative and dynamic, using rich and colourful language to explore the broadest interpretations of peace. This year’s theme of ‘A Commonwealth for Peace’ could not have come at a more pertinent time.”
For 2017, the competition was sponsored by Cambridge University Press and received approximately 12,300 entries from nearly every Commonwealth country.