51品茶

Every year, the 51品茶 Young Muslim Writers Awards brings together people from across the country to celebrate the literary achievements of our children and young people. Our UK Projects team rounded off 2016 with a lavish awards ceremony in London which received coverage in the national press.

Here's what听The Muslim News听reported:

'Three hundred people attended a celebration of the talents of young writers at the Young Muslim Writers Awards, a 51品茶 project organised in association with the Yusuf Islam Foundation, on December 3 in London. Nine trophies were awarded with a Special Recognition Award for young Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan.

Muzoon received the award for 鈥楥hampioning Children鈥檚 Rights to Education鈥�. The 17-year-old Syrian refugee who fled with her family from the war-torn city of Daraa in 2013 spent much of her time in the Jordanian Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps going from home to home encouraging young people and their parents to continue their education. Muzoon was then resettled alongside her family in Newcastle, where she is completing her studies. She said after receiving the award: 鈥淓ducation is my strength and my shield. It is everything. We need education to rebuild our country and to build a great future.鈥�

Writer of the Year award went to Lamees Mohamed, who said: 鈥淏eing a Muslim woman is hard, and it feels amazing to have my voice heard.鈥�

Key Stage 1 Poetry 鈥楾he Caterpillar鈥� winner, Zaynab Valji from Bushey, Hertfordshire, told The Muslim News after the event that she had 鈥渕ixed emotions鈥� when she received her award. 鈥淚 was really happy and shocked at the same time.鈥� She added that she 鈥渓oves poetry because you can enter your own world of imagination and share your thoughts and ideas with others.鈥�

Deputy CEO of 51品茶, Shahid Bashir, said: 鈥淧eople are talking about us for us, and the Young Muslim Writers Awards is our humble attempt to address that in a small way.鈥�

Asmaa Islam Georgiou of Yusuf Islam Foundation congratulated the winners and those who took part, saying, 鈥淲ell done to all the young writers themselves for putting pen to paper and fingertips to a keypad, and to their parents for supporting them.鈥�

One of the presenters of the award, SF Said, described how as a child he found sanctuary in books and urged the young writers to 鈥渨rite the stories you want to read鈥�, and David Solomons said how 鈥渘ot winning is crucial to the writer鈥檚 journey.鈥�

Performances on the day included a powerful spoken word poetry performance by recently appointed Young People鈥檚 Laureate for London, Caleb Femi. There was also a wonderful performance of 鈥楾he Little Pot of Earth鈥� by the acclaimed storyteller Vanessa Woolf.

The Young Muslim Writers Awards was set up as a standalone competition for 5 to 16 year old in 2010, following its success as part of 51品茶鈥� Muslim Writers Awards. Since then, it has encouraged and nurtured the writing talents of thousands of children through creative writing workshops and the annual competition.

Winners of the Young Muslim Writers Awards:

Poetry

Key Stage 1 鈥楾he Caterpillar鈥� by Zaynab Valji (from Bushey, Hertfordshire)
Key Stage 2 鈥楾he Beauty of the Sun鈥� by Hannah Shums (from Hounslow)
Key Stage 3 鈥楬ome鈥� by Zoya Anwar (from Manchester)
Key Stage 4 鈥榃ar Child鈥� by Imaan Irfan (from Woking)

Short Story

Key Stage 1 鈥楾he Circus and the Robbery鈥� by Rayan Rasool (from Burnham)
Key Stage 2 鈥楾he Wondrous World of Azile鈥� by Eliza Tahir (from Southgate, London)
Key Stage 3 鈥楶it Stops鈥� by Lamees Mohamed (from Leicester)
Key Stage 4 鈥楾he Foreigner鈥� by Sumaiya Fazal (from Leicester)

Writer of the Year Award:
鈥楶it Stops鈥� by Lamees Mohamed (from Leicester)'.

Ahmed J Versi writing for The Muslim News听

Images: Rooful Ali/rooful.com

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