Eight year old, Mia Falatoori from East London, has been crowned winner of The National Young Writers’ Awards 2018! The competition, now in its tenth year, was judged by bestselling author and comedian, David Walliams and organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning. Mia was surprised in an assembly at her school, Churchfields Junior School in South Woodford on Monday morning, by Walliams who presented her with a prize of a trip to Disneyland Paris for her family and £500 worth of books for her school. He then read out Mia’s winning story entitled The Mum with the Toxic Bum to the whole school and her family who had turned up in secret!
David Walliams said: “I was overwhelmed by the quality and creativity of the stories I read in the National Young Writers’ Awards and was so impressed that this broad range of exciting ideas have come from such young writers. Each piece of writing drew me in and kept me captivated by clever and observant story lines and engaging characters.
“I picked Mia’s story because it really made laugh. I love funny stories and this is one of the funniest pieces of writing I have read in ages. The images that are painted in your head when you read it are hilarious – I only wish I had written it myself! I am sure this winning writer will be a big success and a wonderful writer for children one day if she wants to be!”
The annual writing competition is now in its tenth year and this year’s theme was ‘heroes’, where children were tasked with writing a 500-word story all about their hero, whether that was their parent, a policeman or an idol they aspire to be like. Mia chose the fictional character of a pickled onion eating, farting mum who saves the day by poisoning would-be criminals with her toxic bum! Over 38,000 children from across the UK entered the competition with organisers, Explore Learning, running creative writing workshops up and down the country inspiring children to get creative and give writing a try.
Charlotte Gater, Head of Curriculum at Explore Learning said: “This year’s National Young Writers’ Awards attracted a record number of entries – largely due to having the wonderful David Walliams as our judge who is such a fun, inspiration to children – and adults, no matter what age! We are hugely proud to organize the longest running writing competition for children and over the past 10 years, we’ve really encouraged children in their thousands to release their creativity in abundance.
“Mia’s story was hilarious and so well written! We have been absolutely blown away by how many children sent us heroic tales and loved reading them all. Mia has done so well to be crowned winner and hopefully we have a little comedy writer in the making!”
James Easter, Assistant Head Teacher at Churchfields Junior School: “We were delighted to welcome David Walliams to present Explore Learning’s 1st prize for the National Young Writers’ Awards to Mia. David read Mia’s story, the winner of 39,000 entries, in assembly and Explore Learning and Harper Collins gave Churchfields a bounty of new books and prizes.”
While Mia won an awesome prize of a trip to Disneyland Paris for her family and £500 worth of books for her school, the top 10 entries received £250 worth of books for their schools from Letts Revision plus a large print of the opening line of their story by QuirkyLime. Each of the 151 regional winners also won £50 worth of books!
Deborah Falatoori, Mia’s Mum said: ''We are incredibly proud of Mia’s achievement in winning this national award and excited to be sharing her happiness with her school and friends. Mia’s passion for writing has been very evident from a young age and we enjoy supporting her wholeheartedly — always looking forward to her next story that she captures from her imagination.”
Organisers, Explore Learning, are an award-winning English and maths tuition with 137 centres located all over the UK. Over 35,000 children aged four to 14 attend their centres each week with the aim of becoming fearless learners.
