A civic reception was held on Wednesday evening celebrating the terrific success of a number of young Dundee writers.
Almost a dozen Dundee school pupils were recognised at the event, held in the city chambers to congratulate them in their achievements in the Rotary International Young Writers Award.
Mia Kellner, a pupil at Grove Academy, recited her winning entry for the National Young Writer Award – a competition open to schools and colleges from across the UK and Ireland.
A total of 11 Dundee pupils qualified for the district finals, two graduated to the national finals and Mia was named the overall competition winner.
The young writers were joined by parents, teachers, local education department officials, competition judges and Rotarians from the five Dundee clubs.
A presentation and opening address was given by the district governor of Rotary International Great Britain and Ireland, Roddy Duncan, and Dundee’s Lord Provost, Ian Borthwick.
The entrants were challenged to produce a written or typed story in prose entitled Reflection. The submitted entry could be fiction or non-fiction, a story or a poem.
Fifteen-year-old Mia’s article, The Eyes of War, imagined the story behind National Geographic’s 1984 cover, Afghan Girl.
Her short story recounted the journey to the place where the photo was taken, placing the photographer among a tormented people who have lived with cycles of invasion and civil war for centuries.
Her work beat off competition from more than 5,000 pupils in the senior level for students aged 14-17.
Ivor Morton, president of Rotary Club of Claverhouse said: “This is an excellent achievement for the city of Dundee, which won almost the highest number of awards of any city Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
“It starts to re-balance some of the negative comments about Scottish education when such achievements spell out the talent we have in our Dundee Youth, fostered by excellence in local education and the hard working and skillful teachers in our schools.”
