Catherine's creative writing wins Commonwealth essay competiton silver award

Catherine Teemul, a 12-year-old student with a passion for creativity, has captured the spotlight by winning a silver award in the prestigious international Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) 2025.

The young writer, who found out about the competition through social media, entered on a whim, driven by curiosity and her long-standing love for reading and writing.

"I have loved reading since I was in standard three," she shared, recalling her early years of developing a strong connection to storytelling.

She was then an 11-year-old student of the Curepe Presbyterian Primary School when she entered in May.

"It was the first time I entered a competition, and I entered out of curiosity. I used to do a lot of creative writing at primary school," Catherine said, adding she used her creative imagination for the essay.

Her essay, Through the Pages, was hailed for its exceptional creativity and engaging narrative, earning her recognition as one of the top entries in her age category.

Her essay was among 53,434 entries from across the Commonwealth.

Catherine's essay, written in the first person, tells the mythical tale of a girl who discovers a mysterious leather-bound book with specks of gold dust.

The girl finds a glowing door within the book's pages, which leads her to another dimension.

She then recognises he was trapped in her favourite book and being pursued by a villain with a knife in the forest.

Through a thrilling escape, the child flees through the colourful door that initially brought them into the book, vowing never to touch a book like that again.

Catherine said she was overwhelmed with joy upon receiving her silver certificate.

"It came as a surprise. I was overjoyed when I found out. I was grateful for all of my studies earlier, and that I achieved this," she said.

The competition is organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) in the United Kingdom.

According to RCS's website, the theme is drawn from Commonwealth values and principles each year.

It encourages young people to engage with pressing issues of the day, such as the environment, equality, and youth leadership, to foster an open-minded and empathetic worldview.

Catherine's achievement in the competition comes after her success in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exams in April 2025.

She now attends her first choice, St Joseph Convent, St Joseph, following in the footsteps of her eldest sister, Chelsea-Marie.

In addition to the QCEC award, Catherine also received recognition for creative writing at her SEA graduation.

Catherine said her favourite subject at secondary school is Art, and she plans to be a fashion designer when she grows up.

Like her parents, Arvind and Nadia Teemul, Catherine praised her then primary school teacher, Valine Sewlal-Hamid, for playing an instrumental role in nurturing her writing talent.

Catherine's parents and siblings, Chelsea-Marie and Celine, expressed their gratitude for Sewlal-Hamid's encouragement.

Both parents said Catherine has found her niche, her true self, through writing.

They also believed that the QCEC award, being from such a prestigious platform, has given their daughter "the proverbial push" to further believe in herself as she embarks on this new chapter in her life.

"She loves art and is incredibly creative. She loves designs and has an eye for creativity," her mother said.

Her father added that she gets her brilliance from her mother.

"I felt more than happy for Catherine when we got the results. I read some of her work two years ago, and I was overly impressed with the way she constructed her sentences, especially with her essays."

Teemul beamed that her work kept him wanting to read more and more, and that he always looked forward to her sharing it with him.