Two of the winners of the The Irish Times Africa Day Writing Competition 2016 received their prizes at the offices of The Irish Times this week.
Wasekera Chiphazi-Banda, a 19-year-old psychology student at City Colleges, Dublin. who is originally from Malawi, won the adult category, while Stephanie Iwuala (11), from Our Lady of the Wayside, Bluebell, Dublin 12, was joint winner of the primary school category. They each received €50 worth of books.
The competition was run in conjunction with Irish Aid as part of its annual Africa Day celebrations. It invited primary school and second-level students, as well as adult short-story writers, essayists and poets to submit a piece addressing the relationships and interactions between Ireland and Africa.
The winning entries, chosen by Barbara Wilson of Irish Aid and Martin Doyle, assistant literary editor of The Irish Times. The other two winners who were unable to attend were Shannon Coady, a sixth-class pupil at St James’s Primary School, Dublin 8, and Miriam Onwule, a fifth year student at Maryfield College, Drumcondra, Dublin.
Stephanie Iwuala is no stranger to success. This year alone, she has won several prizes for her writing. She developed a playscript to complement Disney/Pixar’s movie The Good Dinosaur but most notably, Stephanie won a Luas competition based around the 1916 Rising. Stephanie wrote her version of the Proclamation and how she envisaged the next 100 years in Ireland. She tackled current issues such as the homelessness crisis, taxation and global warming. Her proclamation was displayed on the Luas stop next to her school in Bluebell – the only proclamation on the entire red line, in stark contrast to the green line, which had 15 winners.
Stephanie has also taken part in a Write to Read initiative, which was designed to take talented writers to St Patrick’s College and develop their imaginative writing skills. Here she worked with acclaimed authors such as Brian Gallagher and Siobhán Parkinson.
