Every year, since 1883, The Royal Commonwealth Society organises the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition for youth in all Commonwealth countries. The young people aged 18 and under have a great opportunity to show their creativity and express their thoughts through the written word. This year, competition’s theme was ‘A Commonwealth for Peace’.

The writing is in freestyle, therefore, participants can express themselves in various forms: essays, poems, scripts, stories or even cartoons. This year, the competition received approximately 12,300 entries from young people across nearly every country in the Commonwealth. Judges were identified to assess the essays submitted. Mr. Stokes – Smith, Chairman of the Birmingham Commonwealth Association, judged 100 essays. Overall thousands of Bronze, Silver and Gold medals were awarded, and the following young people received the top prizes:

• Senior Winner: Annika Turon-Semmens, 16, Australia
• Senior Runner-up: Hiya Chowdhury, 15, India
• Junior Winner: Ariadna Sullivan, 13, Canada
• Junior Runner-up: Ry Galloway, 10, UK

The Winners and Runners-up will visit London where they will participate in various educational and cultural events. Their awards will be presented by HRH the Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace at a ceremony in November 2017.

More information about the Winners and Runners-up, including their entries, you can find on website.