MCO 1.0 had barely begun and schools plunged into online mode when Low Ken Zen, then 13 years old, was encouraged to participate in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, known to be the world’s oldest international writing competition.
Zen’s initially hesitated, as writing meant work, but eventually decided trying could be a good opportunity to discover a talent.
“Being cooped indoors became a blessing in disguise as there were fewer distractions. After multiple drafts, I was finally happy with what I came up with,” he reminisced.
Zen wrote a poem ‘My Planet, My Place’, which centred on the theme ‘Climate Action and the Commonwealth’. Little did he know his efforts would pay off. In October last year, Zen was pleasantly surprised to discover he had achieved a Gold Finalist Award, which meant he placed in the top 1% of almost 13,000 contestants all around the Commonwealth.
“I was filled to the brim with euphoria and could not believe that my entry was actually good enough for a Gold Finalist Award! I would like to thank our principal, Ms Saw, for encouraging me to join the competition and my sister, a former Gold Award recipient, for inspiring me. I also appreciate my mother’s guidance. She suggested that I add the animal illustrations and fine-tune my work.”
Pandemic or not, he hopes to continue in his creative writing endeavours and encourages all Commonwealth citizens below 18 to participate in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition.
“This experience taught me that my visions of a sustainable future can be accomplished and a beautifully written poem can carry powerful messages!” Zen surmises.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021 recently launched, with the theme ‘Community in the Commonwealth’. For more details, visit https://www.royalcwsociety.org/Pages/Category/literacy.