A 13-year-old pupil has won the 2021 Junior Queen’s Commonwealth essay writing competition (QCEC). Ethan Charles Mufuma, a pupil at Namilyango Junior Boys School in Mukono District beat the 13,050 junior category entries.

Mufuma was announced the winner of the contest on Tuesday by Mr. Nathan Mckenzie, the Chief Operating Officer of Royal Commonwealth society during a function held in London.

Mufuma’s winning entry was one of the 48 entries submitted to this year’s competition by children from Uganda.

The teenager becomes the first-ever Ugandan and African child to win this prestigious competition.

The queen’s commonwealth essay competition is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools established in 1883 with thousands of young people taking part every year.

The competition is open to nationals and residents in the 54 member states of the Commonwealth.

The theme of this year’s annual competition was, “Community in the Commonwealth” and Ethan’s poem that brought him victory was titled “Okware the Pandemic Epic”.

In a letter to Uganda’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr. Mckenzie said: “It gives me great pleasure to inform you that Mr Ethan Mufuma an outstanding student from Namilyango junior boys school has been selected as the junior winner of QCEC. Unfortunately, UK’s Covid-19 restrictions will prevent us from bringing Ethan to London to meet with the other competition winners and attending the QCEC award ceremony at St James’ Palace on the 28th of this month. However, we have committed to bringing him to London next year.”

The Namilyango Junior Boys School headteacher Sr. Immaculate Nabukalu and staff received news of Mr Ethan’s victory with celebrations.

“God has made it. This is not only a win for our school, Uganda but Africa as a whole. Our pupil is the first African child to win this competition,” a beaming Sr Nabukalu said.

She added that as a school they engage learners in many competitions because “we know a competitive mind is a creative mind”.

Ethan Mufuma is a son to Mr Wilson Mufuma, a technician at Makerere University. He wants to become a playwright and said winning the competition would open doors of success for him.

He scored Aggregate 5 in last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations.