My Commonwealth Competition

As a creative competition during the Conversation, we asked young people under the age of 25 to write or draw a response to the following:

The year is 2049. It’s the Commonwealth’s 100th birthday! Imagine that you are the Commonwealth Secretary General.
What would your Commonwealth look like and do?
Find out more about the My Commonwealth Competition.

We were honoured that a distinguished panel of four judges agreed to choose the top prize winners of the My Commonwealth Competition. The judges were the current Secretary-General, H.E. Kamalesh Sharma, and three former Secretaries-General: Sir Don McKinnon, Chief Emeka Anyaoku and Sir Sonny Ramphal.

All of the ten short-listed entries can be downloaded below.

We are now delighted to award the top three prizes of £200, £100 and £50 to the following outstanding entries:

Yihui Quek, aged 16, from Singapore

Asabi Rawlins, aged 16, from Trinidad and Tobago

Boodhoo Vijna Hiteshna, aged 17, from Mauritius

The following two entries were also Highly Commended:

Brendan Wright, aged 19, from Australia

Baila Shakaib, aged 16, from Pakistan

MANY CONGRATULATIONS!

To find out more about ongoing Royal Commonwealth Society competitions, see www.thercs.org/youth/competitions.

FIRST PRIZE: Yihui Quek, aged 16, from Singapore
“The Commonwealth started off as a network of former British colonies. But as we progress in the 21^st century, we have found a new purpose as a bridge—between developed and developing nations, as well as between the East and West. We are well-poised for this role because of our sheer diversity—if the wealth of all the countries in the world were plotted on a spectrum, those at both extremes would bear the Commonwealth stamp.”
DOWNLOAD YIHUI’S ENTRY

SECOND PRIZE: Asabi Rawlins, aged 16, from Trinidad and Tobago
“The Common Consensus is that their Commonwealth, my Commonwealth, your Commonwealth, Our Commonwealth of 2049 is a community, a family of strong resilient members all with a common goal in mind; the safety, happiness, equality and well-being of all.”
DOWNLOAD ASABI’S ENTRY

THIRD PRIZE: Boodhoo Vijna Hiteshna, aged 17, from Mauritius
“The modern Commonwealth shows a predilection for peaceful resolution of conflicts, and acts upon the principle that any problem plaguing mankind should not be ignored, qualified as affecting others only, nor seen as some other group’s responsibility, but should instead be solved collectively, in the hope of a better world.”
DOWNLOAD BOODHOO’S ENTRY

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Brendan Wright, aged 19, from Australia
“Decades ago we realised that The Commonwealth should not and could not be the UN, the WHO, the World Bank or any other of the hundreds of international organisations. It cannot be summed up by an acronym a few letters long, nor should it be. It should not try and supplement the activities of other organisations with its own. It could not do everything, and would fail if it tried to do so. So The Commonwealth was reorganised into the entity we see today. A democratic institution which aims to do nothing more than promote, foster and advance ideas, philosophies and actions which benefit all peoples, places and things in and out of The Commonwealth member states. The Commonwealth is a symbol and a beacon.”
DOWNLOAD BRENDAN’S ENTRY

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Baila Shakaib, aged 16, from Pakistan

SHORTLISTED: Patricia Manyuru, aged 17, from Kenya

SHORTLISTED: Jackline Amony, aged 16, from Kenya
“Full of optimism, I can see a better world, a new era, where both men and women will have equal rights and justice; reason being, my commonwealth worked for it. I believe in a remarkable change this year. A year when every woman will feel the impact of commonwealth, the year 2049.”
DOWNLOAD JACKLINE’S ENTRY

SHORTLISTED: Tom Anderson, aged 13, from the UK
“Commonwealth countries all over the world,
Obtain full support until justic unfurls,
Mammoth tasks are tackled every year,
Meaning thousands of people can live without fear.”
DOWNLOAD TOM’S ENTRY

SHORTLISTED: Alexandra Mutungi, aged 16, from Kenya

SHORTLISTED: Mizna Sayer, aged 18, from Sri Lanka/Brunei

The Commonwealth Conversation