The first ever Campfire Young Writer of the Year Awards ceremony took place in New Delhi recently. The guest of honour, Sir Mark Tully, was accompanied to the stage by the Campfire chairman, Keshav Thirani, for what was a celebration of the creativity of youth. This ceremony was the first of three carried out across the country – the other two being in Bengaluru and Mumbai – to give all the winners an opportunity to attend.

The speeches from Sir Mark Tully and Keshav Thirani gave everyone present an insight into their thoughts on this competition, and how valuable this kind of activity is for young people. Children can be encouraged to explore their creativity through writing; they can discover the joy of literature through their own hand. Or as Andy Dodd, the comperer of the event said, “We want to break open their creativity, throw the shackles off their restraints once in a while, and let them loose with nothing more than a pen and a piece of paper – or more likely Microsoft Word and a keyboard.”

Following the words from Sir Mark Tully, the award presentation began. Although Sahir D’souza – the overall winner of the competition – could not be present, he had pre-recorded a video message which was played for all to see. After receiving her All-India Class 6 Winner award, Madirekshana Chakraborty from Step by Step School in Noida answered questions from one of the competitions’ judges, and delighted everyone with her softly-spoken and humble, yet cheerful, answers.