The Royal Mint Museum Announces the Third Annual Short Story Competition Winner

• The Royal Mint Museum has revealed the winner of its short-story competition for school and home education children in the United Kingdom with the theme of ‘Crossing Continents’.
• The winner has received a voucher for £5,000 to spend on the school library from Peters.
• The competition was judged by award-winning children’s writer and activist Onjali Q. Raúf.

 The Royal Mint Museum has announced the winner of its Short Story competition which invited schools or home education children across the UK to write about the theme of ‘Crossing Continents.’

 Using the stories of the Welsh-American coalfield migratory workforce, the Empire Windrush story and the international workforce of The Royal Mint across time, The Royal Mint Museum developed content to ignite the imagination of pupils interested in writing a 500-word story to enter.

690 entries were received from pupils aged 8-11 and entries were welcomed in any language. The winner of the competition was 10-year-old Muduo Wang from Cothill House Preparatory School in Oxfordshire, with his story “M”. It was chosen by award-winning judge, Onjali Q. Rauf MBE, activist and author of the acclaimed children’s book The Boy in the Back of the Class.

 Onjali Q. Rauf MBE said, “This incredibly clever, deeply original and wonderfully imaginative story, depicting the crossing of continents not by a human being, but a coin, had me hooked, smiling and wishing I could read on. Muduo’s centering of the story on a coin in homage to the Royal Mint was, in short, a stroke of genius – making them definitely a child to watch in the up-and-coming endeavours of the writers of our world.”

 In addition to a voucher for £5,000 to spend on the school library from Peters,  Muduo Wang was also presented with a 2023 Royal Mint Annual Set and a framed copy of his story, which has been brought to life by illustrator and graphic designer Chanté Timothy.

The winning story by Muduo Wang is available on The Royal Mint Museum’s website, as are all the ‘runners up’ and ‘highly commended’ awarded entries who have also received prizes. Inspiration and downloadable teaching resources were available on the short story competition website and all winners have now become part of the Royal Mint Museum archive; this documents the history of The Royal Mint over the past 1,100 years.

Dr Kevin Clancy of the Royal Mint Museum said, “The standard of entries to this year’s short story competition was extremely high and reaching a decision on the final ten was a very difficult task. So many young authors told us wonderful imaginative tales and others told true stories about their own family and their lives. The Museum team read each one with a great deal of care and would like to thank all who entered. Congratulations Muduo!”                                             

For more information about the short story competition, please visit: https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/learning/short-story-competition/

Peters: https://peters.co.uk/

Onjali Q.Rauf: https://onjaliqrauf.com/

Chanté Timothy: https://www.heychante.co.uk/

The Royal Mint Museum will shortly be announcing details of the 2024 short story competition.