The winners of the Surrey Libraries 2024 Youth Writing Contest have been announced, with students from Adams Road and Strawberry Hill elementary schools, as well as Earl Marriott, Enver Creek, Fleetwood Park, Fraser Heights, Grandview Heights, Johnston Heights, Kwantlen Park, École Salish, SAIL, Semiahmoo and Sullivan Heights secondary schools being recognized for their writing talents. (Photo by Surrey Libraries)
Surrey Libraries has selected the winners of the 2024 Youth Writing Contest, recognizing multiple Surrey Schools students for their writing talents, including two who took home several awards each.
Students from Adams Road and Strawberry Hill elementary schools, as well as Earl Marriott, Enver Creek, Fleetwood Park, Fraser Heights, Grandview Heights, Johnston Heights, Kwantlen Park, École Salish, SAIL, Semiahmoo and Sullivan Heights secondary schools were among the winners, formally announced at an awards gala on Oct. 16.
Fraser Heights' Grace Ding showcased her diverse writing and artistic abilities, taking first in the Senior Short Story category and second in Comics.
Fleetwood Park also had a strong showing, with Michelle Masood placing first in Senior Poetry and Annika Gill placing second in Senior Short Story and receiving an honourable mention in Senior Poetry.
SAIL's Sophia Ng topped the Comics category and classmate Myreen Randhawa took third in Junior Poetry.
Grandview Heights saw two students receive accolades, with Esther Dain Yeong and Jocelyn Mui finishing third in Comics and the Random category, respectively. Dain Young also received an honourable mention in Random.
Semiahmoo also had two award winners, with Clary Chow placing second in Senior Poetry and Jolene Zhang placing third in Junior Short Story.
Kwantlen Park's Renata Mustafa finished first in Random while Andrey Tokarev received an honourable mention in Junior Poetry.
Johnston Heights' Diya Karthik took second in Random while Guildford Park's Andrei Ichiro Requinto and Sullivan Heights' Sienna Chow took third in Senior Short Poetry and Senior Poetry, respectively.
Honourable mentions were also given to Adams Road's Luciana Tilgner in Random, Strawberry Hill's Japji Sandhu and Enver Creek's Sukhman Kambo in Comics. Enver Creek's Poonam Dhillon in Junior Poetry, and Earl Marriott's Lucy Prior and École Salish's Chahaat Bains in Junior Short Story.
The full list of winners and finalists is available here.
The annual writing competition for Surrey youth aged 12 to 18 has been running since 1987, serving as a platform for aspiring young writers to showcase their talent in the form of short stories, poems, comics, essays, screenplays and lyrics. It is organized by the youth library staff at Surrey Libraries and is supported by champion sponsors Khalsa Credit Union, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and the Surrey International Writers' Conference.
The winning entries will be compiled in an anthology that will be available online, at Surrey Libraries branches, or on sale for $8 in early November.
2024 WINNERS
Junior Short Story
- First Prize: Seerit Khangura
- Second Prize: Jia Lu Hai
- Third Prize: Jolene Zhang, Semiahmoo Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Lucy Prior, Earl Marriott Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Chahaat Bains, École Salish Secondary
Senior Short Story
- First Prize: Grace Ding, Fraser Heights Secondary
- Second Prize: Annika Gill, Fleetwood Park Secondary
- Third Prize: Andrei Ichiro Requinto, Guildford Park Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Rifana Saleem Khan
Junior Poetry
- First Prize: Anna Goode
- Second Prize: Alessandra Abia
- Third Prize: Myreen Randhawa, SAIL
- Honourable Mention: Andrey Tokarev, Kwantlen Park Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Poonam Dhillon, Enver Creek Secondary
Senior Poetry
- First Prize: Michelle Masood, Fleetwood Park Secondary
- Second Prize: Clary Chow, Semiahmoo Secondary
- Third Prize: Sienna Chow, Sullivan Heights Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Selen Al-Shuaibi
- Honourable Mention: Annika Gill, Fleetwood Park Secondary
Comics
- First Prize: Sophia Ng, SAIL
- Second Prize: Grace Ding, Fraser Heights Secondary
- Third Prize: Esther Dain Yeong, Grandview Heights Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Japji Sandhu, Strawberry Hill Elementary
- Honourable Mention: Sukhman Kambo, Enver Creek Secondary
Random
- First Prize: Renata Mustafa, Kwantlen Park Secondary
- Second Prize: Diya Karthik, Johnston Heights Secondary
- Third Prize: Jocelyn Mui, Grandview Heights Secondary
- Honourable Mention: Luciana Tilgner, Adams Road Elementary
- Honourable Mention: Esther Dain Yeong, Grandview Heights Secondary
