In Harry Wilson’s world, lions chair global summits, elephants speak of grief, and a chorus of endangered voices demands one thing above all else… hope.
It’s a strikingly assured vision from a young writer – and one that has now earned the Year 7 student top honours in the world’s oldest schools’ essay competition.
Every year, scores of Jersey students take part in the Queen’s Commonwealth Writing Competition, writing about a current theme.
This year’s overall Jersey winner, Harry Wilson, was a Year 6 pupil at St Michael’s Preparatory School and has since started Year 7 at Victoria College.
He was awarded the Gold Award and Jersey Award Cup for this winning piece of work…
Harry’s winning essay: Hope 742
“Welcome to this Oasis in the United Republic of Tanzania, brothers and sisters of the Commonwealth family,” roared the Lion representing England, “to our 2025 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. I would like to thank African Wild Dog for this very warm and hospitable welcome.“ A round of ap’paws, claws and let’s not forget hooves filled the air.
“In this modern age, we are all facing difficult challenges that are threatening our future. We are meeting here to discuss solutions to these problems. We will hear some very sad stories throughout the day, however we are not here to apportion blame but to listen to these stories, seek solutions to them and inform the world that something must be done before it is too late! I hand you over into the capable paws of Kangaroo.”
“G’day,“ said the Kangaroo as he bounded onto the stage. “ I am the representative of Australia and I’d like to talk about Wildfires and what they have to do with global warming. Great Fire of London… What about the Great Wildfire of Australia? Over one billion animals perished including Koalas, Echidnas, Kangaroos and Gliders. And that’s not counting the ones displaced and injured. In my opinion, this is all because of global warming.
Conservation laws must be improved and measures put in place to stop this happening again. Greenhouse gases continue to eat away at the atmosphere, letting in even more of the sun’s heat which increases the temperature on land and sea. Did you know that Australia’s land is already 1.51 degrees Celsius hotter than in 1910 ? This last wildfire was one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history! This has to stop if we want any sort of future. Thank you. “
With his trunk swaying, the African Elephant trundled slowly onto the stage. “ Hujambo,“ he said in greeting. “I’d like to talk about the loss of habitat, which affects us all, as well as poaching, which, although illegal, is still practised. I speak from experience, having lost my brother to poachers. What use are our tusks to them? Greed, money, all they want is our ivory tusks to sell. Same applies to our habitat. Where our ancestors roamed freely, humans are taking our land for livestock farming, logging and mining. We need these forests for our survival.“
“I’d like to add to what the Elephant has just voiced,” piped up the Black Rhino. “When big trucks full of tourists on safaris come to my home in Zimbabwe, my herd gets scared. We are asked to trust them but how can we when bad humans keep coming after us to kill us for our horns! This has to stop now! Maita zvenyu. Thank you.”
“Don’t forget us poor Scottish Wildcats!” a voice shouted. “There’s not many of us left either… less than 300! Time’s running out for us too. If things don’t change, this might be the last you hear from us.”
All of the animals present nodded their heads as the Rhino sat down and the Western Lowland Gorilla took to the stage. “I’ve come all the way here from Jersey Zoo, that was founded by Gerald Durrell in 1959 – not my usual habitat, but I am being protected there. My family in the wild is gradually disappearing because of deforestation, poaching and because humans are moving into my habitat. We are also victims of a deadly virus known as Ebola. Scientists are trying to fight this because it affects humans as well. There are organisations trying to help us animals and make a difference, such as EarthShot and WWF. Thank you for your attention.”
The animals present listened intently as one by one the Delegates spoke of the problems concerning their species.
When the final animal had finished addressing the gathering, the animals conferred in small groups. How amazing to see all these animals that would normally have avoided each other for fear of conflict, collaborating peacefully to solve problems within the Commonwealth. Tiger conferring with giraffe, hyena chatting with the salamander, Orangutan listening intently to Giant Tortoise and Cheetah and Leopard advising Chimp.
Soon the time to depart and go their separate ways was upon them and the Lion closed the meeting by saying farewell and declaring that they would not act irrationally towards the humans, but try to work together for the common good of all.
All left the meeting with one thing in mind, something for the future. HOPE.
The full list of award-winners…
Gold Award winner and Jersey Award Cup winner: Harry Wilson
Gold Award winners: Grace Allo, Azélie Binet, Joshua Catchpole, Aelia Farrow, Ethan Guest, Corinne Harvey, Oriana Jennings, Eivaan Lamba, Olivia Lambotte, Alice Larnder, Archie Legge, Teddy Osborne, Rose Philippe, Ethan Saunders, Samuel Swain, Aidan Tait, Beau Tinari-Lee, Adel Tonko, Eleanor Vandermerwe-Mahon and Winnie Young
Silver Award winners: Lachlan Barton, Martha Bell, Aurora Bettany, Mary Boldison-Smith, Lottie Bore, Beau Buckles, Ludo Burgess, Maddison-Rose Buxton, Jonathan Carnegie Bedlow, Mollie Calvert, Evie Chandlen, Alice Currier, Bowen De La Haye, Amalie Dixon, Titus Farrow, James Felton, Sofia-Rose Figueroa, Hannah Follain, Alice Frisby, Isabella Frost, Annabel Gale, Anoushka Gambles, Elise Gardner, Annabel Gaudion, Ruben Gee, Barnaby German, Harry German, Laura Goddard, Madeleine Hamilton, Isaiah Hoareau, Montgomery Hulme, Isabelle Hunt, Liliane Jones, Lyra Jones, Florence Kennedy, Angus Kerley, Isla Khoury, Maya King, Erin Larcombe, Ellie Larnder, Amber Lawrence, Ethan Lawrence, Elizabeth Lowe, Aria McNulty, Imogen McNulty, Megan Militis, Alexia Morris, Lochlan O’Brien, Caoimhe O’Connor, Ethan O’Hara, Amalia Overland, Esmé Pallot, Katie Palmer, Ariyana Patel, Bertie Pearce, George Perkins, Emilia Pinnington, Jemima Pirouet, Arthur Powell, Trisha Rajput, Dexter Reeve, Leo Roberts, Claudia Rumens, Ella Sculthorpe, Yumika Shah, Lexie Shelton, Lucy Silbernagl, Esme Tarpey, Taasha Vivek, Olivia Voss, Jacob Warren, Poppy Westmacott, Aaron Weston, Albert Whitchurch, Rose White, Alfred Winchester and Minerva Zolfaghari
Bronze award winners: Charis Afolumi, Harry Anderson, Jasmine Anderson, Felix Appleton, Lily-Mae Aouane, Saxon Bailey, George Baird, Tyler Baravelle, Jack Barrett, Samuel Bartleman, Charlie Bore, Wilfrid Boucher, Zelia Boucher, Alice Capstick, Annabelle Carter, Eliana Carter, Sophie Casson, Amy Chandlen, Jack Chandlen, Lucas Couchinho, Sofia Couchinho, Elizabeth Cornic, Lucy Cornthwaite, Merryn Craggs, Camilla Christensen, Lily Clayton, Lylah Cummins, Jack Daggett, Tomas De Almeida, William Farley, Jack Foers, Fergus Forbes, Xanthe Gibson, Mai Gimenez, Luc Glover-Green, Darcey Guillemot, Sienna Haines, Eva Hennessy-Barrett, Anabella Hodson, Harrison Hyde, Isabella Johnson, Poppy Johnson, Thomasina Jones, Rose Kalinauckas, Constancia Kampe, Claribel Kemp, Gracie Kinnear, Orla Langly-Smith, Jessica Livesey, Uma Longstaffe, Sophia Loukaides, Lily Lovely, Orla McCormack, Harriet Moehle, Jessica Moulson, Natasha Munn, Hadassah Munyawiri, Oscar Parker, Grace Perkins, Francesca Pinnington, Mabel Power, Oscar Quemard, Phoebe Quérée, Heath Reeve-Gray, Poppy Richard dit Leschery, Rodrigo Rodriguez-Garcia, Zack Royle, Poppy Scott, Rose Scott, Alfie Sims, Jack Steigenberger, Ayda Stewart-Sunley, Olivier Szulc, Cara Taylor, David Taylor, Victoria Thompkins, Edua Tonka, Juliet Tovey-Stewart, Xavier Touzel, Juliette Tucker, Edward Turnbull, Isabella Turnbull, Emily Venables, Lukas Whelan, Edward Whitchurch, Zara Williams, Victor Wolberink and Lucy Wynn