Announcing the winners of The Orwell Youth Prize 2024
From an impressive range of entries from 815 young writers, our readers chose a shortlist of 44 outstanding pieces of writing, which were all carefully considered by our judges Patience Agbabi, John Bernard, Charlie Higson, Vicky Spratt and Polly Toynbee.
Our entrants responded to the theme of ‘home’ through powerful and imaginative stories, essays, poems and more, exploring challenging and urgent themes including homelessness, inheritance, national identity, the climate crisis, conflict and migration.
All shortlisted writers were invited to our Orwell Youth Prize Celebration Day at University College London on Saturday 6th July, where they took part in a creative writing workshop with John Bernard; met Orwell’s son, Richard Blair; and shared their work with an audience, before the announcement of the winners, runners up and highly commended entries.
You can read all the winners and runners up below. The winners will also feature in The Orwell Prize Anthology 2024, so do check back for further updates. In the meantime, thank you to everyone who entered, all our volunteers and judges, and congratulations to our winners:
WINNERS
Maxine Lee, Drifting Pillars (Years 7, 8 and 9)
Mihika Bhattacharya, The Language of Home (Years 7, 8 and 9)
Nethuli Weerakoon, Diagnosing Hunger: Then and Now (Years 10 to 11)
Frankie Mordecai, Wonderland (Years 10 to 11)
Florence Alsop, Love Behind Opening Doors (Years 12 to 13)
Benjamin McEwan, A Comforting Green (Years 12 to 13)
RUNNERS UP
Archie Humphrey, MacDuff the Carrot (Years 7, 8 and 9)
Esther Butterworth, Forged (Years 7, 8 and 9)
Niamh Whelan, Ebb and Flow (Years 7, 8 and 9)
Tabby Fletcher, Caligula’s Great War (Years 10 to 11)
Max Liu, Earth Hung Before Him (Years 10 to 11)
Zaara Arif, Nationalism: Can We Claim Home or Must Home Claim Us? (Years 10 to 11)
Leena Tageldin, Fishing for Stars (Years 12 to 13)
Finlay McIlwraith, A nation of shopkeepers? Britain through Orwell’s eyes and mine. (Years 12 to 13)
Yeva Paryliak, Testament (Years 12 to 13)
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Years 7, 8 and 9: Rahaf Mustafa and Selina Zheng
Years 10 and 11: Amy Beddow, Katie Keane, Tianna Mkandawire and Srilakshmi Sen
Years 12 and 13: Julia Kierepko, Eva Amzel-Matas and Alejandro Enriquez
SHORTLISTED
Years 7, 8 and 9: Marina Ambrosio, Sophia Austin, Charis Chan, Noah Dyball, Rose Freer, Beth Miles, Lydia Nottage
Years 10 and 11: Imaan Alyas, Fisayo Atere, Freddy Lord, Esha Patankar, Chiara Reedha, Anoushka Roy
Years 12 and 13: Teniola Adebisi, Oneli Hadgie, Tianna Maidens. Neil MacPherson, Hau Tak Ng, Aaliyah Rice, Jay Tuffnell