Home LearningDid You Know? Becoming a Child Author

Becoming a Child Author

by Eddie Rayner

Voices of Future Generations, the inspiring global writing competition for children, is offering a webinar series for youngsters to drill down into some of the Sustainable Development Goals and clear tips and tricks for how they can pursue this research to elevate their creative writing to the highest standard. Students, parents, and teachers can sign up for free on the website at https://vofg.vofgarabia.org/webinars.

This unique writing initiative, launched under the patronage of UNESCO in 2015 and brought to the Middle East in 2019, was created to promote sustainability awareness and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The regional competition is organised by the Emirates Literature Foundation on behalf of HH Sheikha Hissa bint Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Goodwill Ambassador for the initiative for the Middle East region.


Engaging, fun and free


The series of webinars, entitled ‘The SDG Story Drill,’ will focus on SDGs 6-9, and SDGs 11-12. Each webinar will drill deep into one of these SDGs and ensure young writers gain a good understanding of the issues, and then explore how they can use this research in their writing. Attending the webinars will help students hone their craft and write gripping, edge-of-the-seat stories.


The webinars offer a deep dive into selected SDGs and how children can use them in creative writing


The advice offered during these sessions will greatly benefit students entering the Voices of Future Generations competition, which is open to children aged 8-12, writing for children aged 6 and above. All entries must be between 600-1,500 words long, in Arabic or English. The stories should feature one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the writer’s hopes, dreams or aspirations for a sustainable future. Entries are open to all children resident in the Gulf region and in full-time education, including those home-schooling. Registrations for the third year are now open and the competition will close in the first half of 2022.

Following the conclusion of the SDG Story Drill series, there will be a series of workshops for schools. Any school in the GCC can apply for a dedicated workshop provided they have registered a minimum of 20 students to enter the competition. To request a workshop and for more details see https://vofg.vofgarabia.org/.