Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) on Saturday gave out cash prizes and certificates to students in Chiradzulu and Karonga, who came out top in a Post Disaster Resilience Inspirational Stories contest.
Mawu fashioned the competition with an aim of encouraging secondary school students to explore and share true stories of resilience and hope in the face of adversity with a focus on post disaster.
During the handover of the awards to the winners at Chiradzulu Secondary School, the contest’s chief judge Juliet Neba said they looked at a number of areas in selecting the winners which included creativity.
“We also looked at originality, emotional impact, writing style and relevance to the theme as well as inspiration value,” Neba said.
- Advertisement -
Frank Mtema from Providence Industrial Mission (PIM) Secondary School came out top followed by Collins Haj from the same school on second position with Thandi Zidikila from Chiradzulu Secondary School coming third.
- Advertisement -
The three received K100,000, K75,000 and there were also five consolation prizes of K35,000 each.
Presenting the awards to the winners, Mawu Treasurer Jacinta Chisi said that the next step for Mawu is to look at the publication of the winning stories.
“We will consolidate all the winning stories and then move on with publishing. So, this is in the pipeline,” Chisi said.
She then encouraged the winners and other students, who witnessed the event which was spiced up by among others, traditional dances to continue writing and make it a habit.
- Advertisement -
In Karonga at Maghemo Secondary School, former Mawu leader Chikumbutso Ndaferankhande said eight students were decorated with cash prizes worth K400,000 and certificates of excellence.
Sibusisiwe Phiri came out top during the competition.
“This means more for me and it will spur me to become a writer,” she said.
Maghemo Secondary School Headteacher Michael Kunyenje lauded Mawu and Cosoma through Copyright Fund for bankrolling the project.
“Writing has drastically gone down in secondary schools over the years. Initiatives such as this one will surely awaken academic excellence in our schools. We hope this kind of project is not the last,” Kunyenje said.
Ndaferankhande said creative writing has gone down in secondary schools.
“Students can hardly build a paragraph. This project is a good start obviously, but Mawu and other creatives have our work cut out,” he said.
Mawu leader Shadreck Chikoti said they were hoping to continue the project.
“This project was initiated by the former president and we are glad that he was gracious to wrap it up himself. We are so thankful for the smooth transition of power but also for continued support People must expect more to see this synergy going on,” Chikoti said.
