Malala Yousafzai has been given a special recognition award for “championing children’s rights to education” at the Young Muslim Writers award ceremony. Accepting the award on behalf of their daughter, her parents, Ziauddin Yousafzai Toor Pekai Yousafzai, said “The children are not only the future of the Muslim community. They are the future of the UK. Reading and creativity are at the heart of Islam”.
The award was part of a ceremony celebrating the winners of a competition set up to encourage the writing talents of children aged five to 16 in two categories – short stories and poetry. Now in its fifth year and seeing over 500 entries, there were four winners from different age groups per category. Judges included Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin; Tim Robertson, director of the Royal Society of Literature; novelist Roopa Farooki; and writer and broadcaster Yasmeen Khan.
The winners were:
Key Stage 1 Poetry
‘Kenning’ by Zakariya Robinson (from Rochdale)
Key Stage 1 Short Story
‘The Pen with 70,000 Heads’ by Abdul Maatin Riaz (from Bradford)
Key Stage 2 Poetry
‘Spring, Autumn and Winter’ by Aminah Rahman (from Cambridge)
Key Stage 2 Short Story
‘The Haunted House Strikes Again’ by Myra Durrani (from Birmingham)
Key Stage 3 Poetry
‘Free Dubai’ by Naima Mohamed (from Waltham Forest, London)
Key Stage 3 Short Story
‘Ivory Demons’ by Imaan Maryam Irfan (from Working, Surrey)
Key Stage 4 Poetry
‘A Quilt of Stars’ by Safeerah Mughal (from Bradford)
Key Stage 4 Short Story
‘Peaceful Sleep’ by Safeerah Mughal
Writer of the Year Award:
‘Kenning’ by Zakariya Robinson (from Rochdale)
