Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Outlook: Writing Brought Us to the Palace

Magazines & Reviews

Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition award ceremony

23/11/2017 GMT

Writing Brought Us to the Palace

BBC World Service - Outlook, Writing Brought Us to the Palace

How four girls ended up in Buckingham Palace by winning an essay competition

How four girls ended up in Buckingham Palace by winning the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition.

Join Matthew Bannister inside the grand rooms of Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition award ceremony.

It's the world's oldest schools' international writing competition which invites young writers from the Commonwealth to submit a piece of writing based on a theme. This year's theme was 'A Commonwealth for Peace'. From more than 12,000 entries, four girls have been successful. Their prize was to travel to London and receive their award from the Duchess of Cornwall. We meet the winners, Annika Turon-Semmens, Ariadna Sullivan, Hiya Chowdhury, and Ry Galloway. 

Also, illustrious writer and comedian David Walliams tells us how he ended up writing a children's book about a boy in a dress, Nigerian author Ben Okri describes writing while homeless, and Romesh Gunesekera reminisces about reading westerns as a boy in Sri Lanka.

Image: The four young writers from around the world who are winners of the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Prize, pictured with the Duchess of Cornwall.
Credit: BBC

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

Writing Brought Us to the Palace

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service