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Elzahraa with Chew (right) and teacher-in-charge of the competition Mildred Lee.
KUCHING (June 16): Elzahraa Helmy, a Year 5 pupil from Borneo International School here has made the state proud after having gained global recognition as the overall winner in the ‘Collins Big Cat Writing Competition 2023’.
The 11-year-old’s winning entry titled ‘The Science of Honey and Bees’ won the top prize in the eight to 11 years old category.
The writing competition by Harper Collins Publishers Limited, ran from November last year to April 30 this year; and entries were judged not only regionally but also among entries from Africa, America, Australasia, Carribbean, Europe, Middle East, United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Speaking to The Borneo Post, Elzahraa whose favorite subject in school is science, said her entry for this year’s competition to celebrate science revolves around her daily routine at home.
“The title of my story is ‘The Science of Honey and Bees’. I was inspired to write the story because almost every day my sister would come down for breakfast, take the honey out and we will pour it on our oatmeal, so it is like our daily food.
“Honey is special to me as it is made by little worker bees that work very hard almost every day. This is my first time entering such competition and I am surprised (to have won),” she said.
Elzahraa, whose ambition is to become an architect, credits the encouragement from her father, who is a lecturer, as the driving force for her accomplishment.
Elzahraa’s ‘The Science of Honey and Bees’ gained praises from judge Mio Debnam.
“It was this quality of scientific curiosity and the research that she obviously did that struck me about her entry.
“But her entry is not a dry list of scientific facts – it’s been arranged in a lovely narrative arc that takes us from her life – so we learn a bit about her and her mum, before it takes us into a deep dive into the busy lives of bees, then back to her life again.
“Along the way, she also tells us what she’s learnt about bees and honey in a creative and engaging manner,” Mio said.
Elzahraa’s story has been illustrated as a Big Cat book cover and uploaded to YouTube with narration by Debnam.
As part of the prize pack, Elzahraa will receive Big Cat books and an engraved plague and certificate, with one year free access to the Big Cat eBook Library for her school.
Borneo International School principal Florence Chew said the school is very proud of Elzahraa’s achievement as it also means that the school has emerged as an overall winner for two consecutive years.
“We only knew about this competition last year when we entered it, and a Year 2 student Ethan Goh was named overall winner but under a different category which is for five- to seven-year-olds.
“So this year we entered it and won again, we are very proud to be an overall winner for two consecutive years,” she said.
“We hope that our students will continue to take up such challenges and participate in many more competitions in the future,” she added.
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