Maru-a-Pula student runner-up of Queen�s Commonwealth Essay

Correspondent | Wednesday August 26, 2015 16:07

As the Senior Runner-Up, Tawanda will be invited to a special awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace where HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will present the winners with their prizes. The ceremony will form part of a week of cultural and educational activities for the four overall winners of this year’s essay competition.

The Duchess of Cornwall will be presenting the prizes on behalf of HM The Queen, Patron of the competition. The Duchess is a keen supporter of promoting literacy amongst young people and adults.

Writing on the essay topic: ‘What do you hope to achieve in your lifetime?’, Tawanda’s entry to the competition – which is sponsored by Cambridge University Press – is a mature and informed essay which shows a great awareness of the relationship between the physical and life sciences and the future of Africa. Its humble voice is balanced with a marked confidence, and has great ambitions.

An excerpt from Tawanda’s winning entry: “I’m tiny, thin and slight. My arms are skinny enough to be snapped into two by a strong handshake. But I absolutely refuse to be anything but big. I don’t know why my not-quite-light, not-quite-dark brown eyes have so much ambition hiding in their pupils. Nor do I know what other secret dualities are hiding between the messy garden of curls growing atop my scalp. All I know is that there’s a vast ocean of development between who I am today and who I want to be tomorrow.”

The judging panel said: “Tawanda describes himself as having ‘Small chest. Big Dreams’. In his essay he dreams big about the scientific future for Africa and his part in that. His thoughtful analysis of the power of those dreams and his arresting descriptions make this a prize-winning entry.” Talking about his win, Tawanda said: “Having previously entered the essay competition and received a Silver Award, I wanted to see if I could do better. I feel terribly happy and astonishingly surprised from the news.”

Tawanda is a student at the Maru-a-Pula School in Gaborone, Botswana. Whilst he has a strong identity as a Motswana –‘Botswana is his heart’, he quotes – he also believes he has a wider perspective so that the ‘Universe is his mind’. He is an aspiring physicist and a poet, and his interests also extend musically: to him, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is the ‘greatest achievement of humankind’ and he enjoys rapping freestyle with his friends around his school.

Michael Lake CBE, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society said: “The Royal Commonwealth Society is delighted that in its 132nd year, the Essay Competition has received a record number of entries and that submissions came through from all across the Commonwealth.

I am particularly impressed by the way in which those young people are able to articulate thoughts of great maturity and insight that will be important to the world in which they will grow up. Their inspirational pieces of writing testify to their strong desire to make a difference.” Carolyn Jack, Chief Operating Officer, Royal Commonwealth Society