PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 5.12.17, LONDON, UK
Speakers announced for the Young Muslim Writers Awards on 9th December
A diverse panel of judges have now selected the winners of this year’s Young Muslim Writers Awards, a Muslim Hands project presented in association with the Yusuf Islam Foundation. The winners will be announced at a prestigious ceremony on 9th December 2017 in London, UK.
The ceremony will take place in the afternoon with the following presenters confirmed: Tim Robertson, Director of The Royal Society of Literature; award-winning journalist Nabila Ramdani; award-winning author of Black Mamba Boy Nadifa Mohamed; Gaby Morgan, poetry list Editorial Director of Macmillan Children’s Books; award-winning author of Secrets of the Henna Girl, Sufiya Ahmed; Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize winner, Patrice Lawrence; poet Mohamed Mohamed; CEO of Islam Channel, Mohamed Ali; and Lamees Mohamed, Young Muslim Writers Awards’ Writer of the Year 2016. Speakers also include Shahid Bashir, Deputy CEO of Muslim Hands; Syed Lakhte Hassanain, Chairman of Muslim Hands; and a representative of the Yusuf Islam Foundation.
The ceremony will also honour the bravery and courage of Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, a young school boy who was shot 4 times by the Taliban whilst helping his fellow class mate in the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. Muhammad Ibrahim, a campaigner for education in developing countries, will deliver a speech and will also receive a Special Recognition Award on behalf of the survivors and those who were killed to commemorate the massacre.
The afternoon ceremony will consist of an exciting line-up of entertainment including a storytelling performance by award-winning storyteller Alia Alzougbi as well as a poetry performance by former poet laureate of Birmingham, Dreadlockalien.
The talented shortlisted writers are between the ages of 5 and 16 and their entries include a range of extraordinary poems, short stories and articles. Syed Lakhte Hassanain, Chairman of Muslim Hands comments, “We are amazed by the quality of the submissions for this year’s competition. Their creative writing skills and passion for their work shows they have bright futures ahead of them. We hope they keep up their good work and become successful writers and are pleased to be able to provide them a platform to showcase their talents.”
The Young Muslim Writers Awards is Muslim Hands’ flagship project and was set up as a standalone competition for writers aged 5 – 16 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 writing competition.
For the fifth consecutive year the ceremony will be presented in association with the Yusuf Islam Foundation, an umbrella organisation operating in education, community development and philanthropy. The ceremony will be broadcast on Islam Channel, the official media partner of the competition since its inception.
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Notes to editors:
- For further details, interviews with shortlisted writers or media passes to the ceremony, please contact Pritima Miah on miah@muslimhands.org.uk or call 0115 911 7222.
- The Young Muslim Writers Awards arranges creative writing workshops and an annual writing competition. Visit ymwa.org.uk, Twitter and Facebook.
- For further details about the Young Muslim Writers Awards 2017 shortlist please visit https://ymwa.org.uk/2017-shortlist-announced/
- For a complete list of the judges involved in the Young Muslim Writers Awards 2017 please visit https://ymwa.org.uk/2017-judges/
- Muslim Hands is an international aid agency and NGO working in over 50 countries worldwide to help those affected by natural disasters, conflicts and poverty. muslimhands.org.uk
- For further details on Muslim Hands’ UK Community Development work please visit https://muslimhands.org.uk/our-work/uk-projects
- Yusuf Islam Foundation is an umbrella body that works in education, the alleviation of poverty and community development. yif.org.uk
- Islam Channel is a satellite channel broadcasting news, current affairs and entertainment programming from an Islamic perspective. islamchannel.tv