SINGAPORE \u2013 Achanta Lakshmi Manognya was falling asleep one October evening when her elder sister rushed into the room to shake her awake. <\/p>\n
\u201cMano, we\u2019re going to Buckingham Palace!\u201d her sister screamed. <\/p>\n
That was how the Crescent Girls\u2019 School student, 14, realised she was the junior category runner-up in The Queen\u2019s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2025. Her mother had received an e-mail from the organisers.<\/p>\n
Founded in 1883, the competition is the world\u2019s oldest international writing competition for schools.<\/p>\n
Over 53,400 entries were submitted from 54 Commonwealth countries, a new record and a 53 per cent increase from 2024, according to the Royal Commonwealth Society.<\/p>\n
The junior category, for those aged 14 and below, was won by Vivaan Agarwal from India.<\/p>\n
The senior category was won by Kaira Puri from India and the runner-up was Pandora Onyedire from Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The four won a \u201cWinners\u2019 Week\u201d trip to Britain in November that involved visits to historic and cultural sites, such as Westminster Abbey and Jane Austen\u2019s House. There was also an award ceremony at St James\u2019s Palace on Nov 20, where they received their certificates from Queen Camilla.<\/p>\n
On meeting the Queen, Manognya said: \u201cShe was really kind… She went to every single family member in the winners\u2019 families, and she talked to each of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manognya told the Queen she felt grateful for the opportunities the contest had given her and \u201cthe platform that it\u2019s giving the youth\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe essay competition is a very empowering competition, and I\u2019m honoured to have been a part of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Manognya\u2019s winning poem, India To Mauritius, tells the story of a young monkey that is taken from its mother and transported from its home in India to an enclosure in Mauritius.<\/p>\n
The India-born permanent resident, who moved to Singapore when she was six months old, had wanted to write about India in relation to the competition\u2019s theme in this edition \u2013 Our Commonwealth Journey.<\/p>\n
She discovered the slave labour trade that connected India and Mauritius and began researching the route between the countries, as well as the experiences of those who arrived in Mauritius from India. She learnt that exotic animals were being traded too, and that became her inspiration to write from a monkey\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n
She added that she was also inspired by her parents\u2019 stories about moving to Singapore and building a new life for her and her sister.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used that feeling (of) how this monkey came to a new country and took care of another monkey, instead of being upset about losing its own (mother),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Manognya\u2019s winning poem was her second draft, which she started in April \u2013 a month before the submission deadline \u2013 after scrapping the initial copy because she thought it \u201cfell flat\u201d.<\/p>\n
Manognya\u2019s mother teared up after reading the completed poem. \u201cShe said, \u2018This reminds me of me leaving my mum\u2019,\u201d Manognya recounted.<\/p>\n
Her father, \u201csomeone who\u2019s not very emotional\u201d, gave her a hug. He had moved to Singapore with Manognya\u2019s late uncle. \u201cYour (uncle) would be so proud of you right now,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n Achanta Lakshmi Manognya with her family and Queen Camilla at the award ceremony on Nov 20.<\/p>\n PHOTO: ACHANTA LAKSHIMI MANOGNYA <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Her teacher, Madam Chng Woei Ling, said she was moved when she read Manognya\u2019s final draft.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very touched, even as I was reading as a teacher with a critical eye,\u201d said Madam Chng, who heads the school\u2019s English Language and Literature Department. \u201cI told (Manognya) this piece has a lot of promise.\u201d<\/p>\n Madam Chng, who has been working with students on The Queen\u2019s Commonwealth Essay Competition since 2019, was confident Manognya\u2019s poem would do well in the competition.<\/p>\n But winning was only a bonus, she said. <\/p>\n \u201c(Writing) is about finding their voice and saying what they want to the whole world,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Motivated by her experience in the essay competition, Manognya urged other young writers to believe in themselves too. <\/p>\n \u201cI know it sounds very cliche \u2013 \u2018never give up\u2019,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s true because if you don\u2019t try, you\u2019ll never know. There\u2019s nothing you lose from trying, but there\u2019s a lot you lose from never trying.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Fatimah Mujibah<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/picture><\/div>
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