Diverse panel of judges submit final scores for the Young Muslim Writers Awards 2016
The panel of judges has carefully assessed and scored every single shortlisted entry in the Young Muslim Writers Awards, a Muslim Hands project presented with Yusuf Islam Foundation. A total of forty creative poems and short stories written by children between the ages of 5 and 16 were shortlisted and winners for each category will be announced at a formal ceremony in London on the 3rd of December 2016.
The young writers’ submissions have been assessed by an eclectic judging panel including author of the internationally-acclaimed In the Eye of the Sun and The Map of Love, Ahdaf Soueif, and the recently announced Young People’s Laureate for London, poet and teacher Caleb Femi.
The judges praised the quality and creativity of the entries. Marcus Sedgwick, author of the recently-published Saint Death, comments that he is “struck by their bravery in confronting dark subjects in a powerful way”, with poet Brian Bilston stating that “It’s wonderful to see so many promising young poets in our midst, writing on such important themes in diverse, powerful ways.”
Other judges on the panel include Ahmed Masoud, Alex Kanefsky, Amanda Lees, Amerah Saleh, Chirine El Ansary, Cornelia Funke, David Solomons, Emily Berry, Gillian Clarke, Gwyneth Rees, Haifa Zangana, Inua Ellams, Jonathan Ruppin, Jules Haworth, Kate Wakeling, Kathryn White, Nicola Davies, Patrice Lawrence, Roopa Farooki, Safeerah Mughal, SF Said, Shahida Rahman, Shemiza Rashid, Sufiya Ahmed, Sumayya Lee, Tamara Macfarlane, Tim Robertson, Tom Palmer and Zanib Mian.
For further details on the panel of judges, please visit https://ymwa.org.uk/meet-the-judges-2016/
For further details of the shortlisted entrants for this year’s Young Muslim Writers Awards please visit https://ymwa.org.uk/talented-writers-revealed-on-2016-shortlist/
The Young Muslim Writers Awards was set up as a standalone competition for 5 – 16 year olds in 2010, following its success as part of Muslim Hands’ 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.
For the fourth consecutive year, the ceremony is presented in association with Yusuf Islam Foundation.
The ceremony will be broadcast on Islam Channel, the official media partner of the competition since 2006.