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BBC Young Writers' Award 2024 winner announced
The winner of the 2024 BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University (YWA) has been announced. Lulu Frisson, a 17-year-old sixth former from Birmingham, won the 10th anniversary award for "Special", a story about a neurodivergent student who is encouraged by an empathetic teacher on a journey of self-discovery through creativity.
The news was announced live on BBC Radio 4 "Front Row" this evening (Tuesday 1st October) during a ceremony held at BBC Broadcasting House.
Frisson said: "My story is inspired by personal experience, primarily that I’ve been very lucky to have some truly amazing subject teachers and SENDCOs in my life, and my story is really just an elaborated narrative of their real support of myself and my writing. But it’s also been inspired by the work I see all my teachers do with younger quiet or neurodivergent students in school, encouraging their talents and interests and seeing them as people beyond the classroom. I was diagnosed with autism relatively late at 15, and although I don’t present with the stereotypical traits of autism, it felt personally like finding a missing puzzle piece. I wanted to write a story inspired by that feeling, and by the support I’ve felt from my teachers in navigating this part of my identity."
Lulu won Art UK’s "Write on Art" competition in 2023. A sixth-form student, she leads a creative writing club for years 8 and 9.
Katie Thistleton, chair of the 2024 BBC Young Writers’ Award judging panel, said: "I was so impressed by the quality of the shortlist for the Young Writers’ Award and the incredible skill displayed by writers of such a young age, but ‘Special’ really jumped out at me from the very first reading. It is such a beautifully crafted, richly poetic story which explores neurodiversity with empathy and originality. I felt as if I was on a journey with the protagonist and was cheering her along all the way! Lulu is a serious talent, and we can’t wait to see what she writes next."
"Special" is available to listen to on BBC Sounds and the BBC Radio 1 website, read by Kymberley Cochrane ("The Strata", "Card-En-Ciel"). Lulu will appear on Radio 1’s "Life Hacks" on Sunday 6th October.
Lulu beat competition from fellow teenagers Basmala Alkhalaf, 17, from Birmingham for "A Human, a Robot and a Gosling Walk into a Post-Apocalyptic Bar"; Amaan Foyez, 18, from Essex for "The Quiet"; Vivienne Hall, 17, from Bolton for "Confession"; and Aidan Vogelzang, 15, from Elgin, Scotland for "Nathalie’s Flatmate".
The award is open to all writers between the ages of 14 to 18 and was created to discover and inspire the next generation of writers.
Elizabeth Rawlinson-Mills, University associate professor in the Faculty of Education and Fellow of Robinson College Cambridge, said: "It feels impossible to write about this story without using the word ‘special’. What a glorious celebration of reading, writing and the power of a transformative teacher. Lulu’s beautiful, powerful writing reminds us of the power of words and images to shrink the distances between us, and how urgent and life-changing that can be."
