‘One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.’
Writing is not an easy task to do. The writer needs knowledge, skills, creativity, techniques and also a sprinkle of imagination to produce an article. A brilliant 16-year-old Malaysian boy recently stunned everyone with his incredible achievement by earning the most prestigious award from the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition.
Among 26,300 entries, Durgesh Ellumalai, a scholar from SMK Paya Besar have bagged the coveted ‘Gold Finalist Award’ in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2022. The talented writer has achieved this remarkable feat under the guidance of the Talent Development Society volunteers (an NGO that helps underprivileged students to be outstanding in both academics and co-academics) and also with the help of Teacher Mrs Jaya Devi Sreeniwasan.
Open to all Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and under, the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) is the world’s oldest international schools’ writing contest, established by the Society in 1883. With thousands of young people participating each year, it is an important way to recognise achievement, elevate youth voices and develop key skills through creative writing. In the past decade alone, this high-profile competition has engaged approximately 140,000 young people, over 5,000 schools and thousands of volunteer judges across the Commonwealth. This year, the competition theme was ‘Our Commonwealth’, reflecting on our Patron Queen Elizabeth II’s seven decades of service to the Commonwealth as an inspiring example of the steadfast commitment and important contribution we can all make to our societies.
According to Priyaguna’s Facebook post, upon meeting the kid’s family, his father, Ellumalai said Durgesh likes to divulge himself by reading novels and storybooks during his spare time and is also diligent in helping his younger siblings in their studies too.
The renowned writer, All glory comes from daring to begin”. With that being said, let’s wish this young aspiring writer to bloom bigger in future and may this award be the booster shot for him to grow in this writing field.
