With a record-breaking 34,939 entries from all Commonwealth regions, we are delighted to announce the winners and runners-up of The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2024:
Senior Winner: Evangeline Khoo, age 15, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Evangeline Khoo Ke Ying, a 15-year-old student at SMK Mejalara, has always been an enthusiastic fan of literature. Drama, tales, books, and musicals are deeply ingrained in her love for fantasy and imagination. Music inspires her writing and moves her to tears.
Since 2023, her enthusiasm for drumming has flourished and continues to grow. A devoted fan of Laufey and Malcolm Todd, she is often seen scribbling in her journal. At school, she has served as a prefect for a year and participated in various competitions, including storytelling and choral speaking in both Malay and English. Choral speaking unlocked her bravery, giving her the courage to step on stage and perform. As a class monitor in Form 2, she led her team to a second-place victory in the Malay choral speaking competition. Her hands are always busy with embroidery or crochet, and her fascination with the interplay of threads and colours is unending.
Junior Winner: Erynn Liew, age 13, from Puchong, Malaysia
Writing has been Erynn's vigorous passion ever since she was given a travel journal at the early age of four. She loved capturing her travels on paper and pencil, describing every detail with words, and doodling them. As time passed, Erynn’s imagination progressively expanded from fantasy books, birthing her enthusiasm for fictional writing.
During any superfluous time, Erynn would dance her fingers on her laptop’s keyboard, bringing the extracted scenes from the supernatural stories of her imaginary kingdom to life. A hobby that is compatible with her love for writing – burying her nose into a book. In other words, reading some of Erynn’s favourite novels include Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Keeper of the Lost Cities and The Hunger Games. Besides that, she enjoys ballet, sketching and singing.
On being informed of the happy news, Erynn was overjoyed to report that after “four years of joining The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition has finally made my biggest dream come true.”
Senior Runner-up: Cristabelle Yeo, age 16, from Singapore
Cristabelle Yeo is a Secondary 4 student currently studying at National Junior College. Well-acquainted with poetry, literature, theatre, and—as Oscar Wilde would put it—the art of doing nothing, storytelling has always been as natural as breathing to her. Much of what she writes is focused on adding whimsy to mundanity and romanticising the ordinary, fueled by an appreciation of the beauty in every day.
Apart from writing, she is an avid reader, especially of historical fiction, her favourite authors being Oscar Wilde and Donna Tartt. She also sews, knits, and plays the guitar. She has a fascination with etymology, bugs of all sorts, and history, particularly the 19th century and classical antiquity.
Junior Runner-up: Victor Kiyaga, age 13, from Mukono, Uganda
Victor Austin Kiyaga was born on 9 August 2011 in Lugazi Town, Buikwe District, Uganda. He is the firstborn of Mr Paul Kiyaga (an Electrical Engineer, and Ms Harriet Nakitende (an Environmentalist) in a family of four children. His ancestral home is in Nsanja Village, in Katosi Parish, Ntenjeru Sub-County, Mukono District in Central Uganda.
His education journey began at three years at Multiple Junior School in Lugazi, Buikwe District. At six years old, he proceeded to Namilyango Junior Boys School (also known as Uganda Martyrs Junior Boys School Namilyango) in 2018 for his primary education to date. He is in Primary Six.
He was inspired to join creative writing when he was in Primary Four by Ethan Charles Mufuma, who won The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021. Kiyaga contributed to the first book (The Little Bards) that the children authored. In this book, he penned a poem titled The Good Farmer. This motivated him to remain an active member, and he continued writing articles that were published in the termly newspaper (Namilyango Times) and the annual magazine. Kiyaga first took part in The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition in 2023, where he won himself a Certificate of Participation. This gave him more zeal and motivation to continue writing out of deep imagination. Writing has become part of him, and he can write anything, especially from imagination. He wants to become a prominent writer whose stories touch lives, change perceptions, and build oneness.
The theme for The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) 2024 was Our Common Wealth, drawing on that for the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will take place in Samoa in October 2024: One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth.
Almost half of Commonwealth countries are Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Samoa, which are disproportionately affected by climate change. Communities across the Commonwealth are also facing a range of challenges, including economic growth, peace, and security.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2024, therefore, asked entrants to consider how they deal with adversity and how community and culture can encourage resilience and hope in a world with a growing number of global issues.
Thank you to all the participants, educators, and supporters who made this year's competition a success. Congratulations to all the entrants, and please keep on writing! The 2025 competition will open on 14 March 2025.
The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition 2024 is sponsored by the Lagos State Government.
