A GOOD story creates a world, which the reader can inhabit: a world of ideas, a world of language, a world of images. Writers play word-games and world-games. This was a compliment given by IGGY and Litro Young Writers’ Prize competition’s chief judge writer and critic Ian Sansom while declaring Pakistani student Rahemeen Ahmed’s 863-word short story as the overall winner.

Mr Sansom says Rahemeen Ahmed's story is a small wonder of world-making and word-making. “For a moment, the reader inhabits the world of Bana-Mai - soothsayer, herb-healer and interpreter of dreams - and then returns to reality, renewed,” he said.

Rahemeen has won a cash prize of £2,000 and will see her work in print in London’s Litro Magazine and on IGGY.net.

Rahemeen, a 16-year-old student from The City School in Islamabad, had participated in the IGGY and Litro Young Writers’ creative short story writing competition based on a theme of “Dream”.

The IGGY, a University of Warwick, UK’s online educational and social network for gifted young people, had launched a competition of creative short story writing in collaboration with London’s Litro Magazine for its members aged between 13-18 years.

Members had submitted short stories no longer than 2,500 words in length. The competition had turned out to be fierce as the organisers had received many entries from talented young writers from across the globe.

In November, the IGGY had announced a list of six short-listed young writers aged between 14 and 17 years and from countries including South Africa, Palestine and the UK. On Dec 4, young writer Rahemeen Ahmed was announced as the overall winner.

The judging panel included writer and critic Ian Sansom, BBC broadcaster and writer John McCarthy CBE, creative writer and teacher Francis Gilbert, award-winning writer and performance poet Dean Atta and teenage writer Simi Prasad.

Upon winning the prize, Rahemeen says, “If being short-listed was like plunging down from a roller-coaster then winning the IGGY & Litro Young Writers’ Prize was like plunging off the world’s highest cliff. For a long time afterwards, I kept jumping up and down in sheer excitement and disbelief.”

Rahemeen also says the IGGY and Litro had given her an incredible opportunity to explore herself as a writer and eventually gave her the most momentous moment of her life. Ken Sloan, registrar and chief operating officer at the University of Warwick, says that IGGY is all about providing opportunities for talent to flourish.

Eric Akoto, editor-in-chief at Litro Magazine, says each year the strength of the entrants amaze and surprise, the stories grow in maturity and strength of theme. The collection of entries this year was no different, with some very demanding and mature voices for their age, he added.

The five runners-up will also be awarded £200 each and all short-listed writers will see their work presented within an e-book on IGGY.net. They are: The House in the Castle by Ellie Serpell-Stevens (15 years) from the UK; [Human]ity by Sam Musker (17 years) from South Africa; The Wall by Brittany Lowe (15years) from the UK; The God of the Defeated by Khobaib Abuelmeaza (17 years) from the UK; and Odyssey to Bliss by Tae-Seon Lee (14 years) from the UK.

It may be mentioned that the Lahore College for Women University has recently adopted IGGY and got free of cost honorary membership for its 200 intermediate students.

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THE British Council last week organised a discussion among education sector experts and young researchers from Pakistan on the subject “Research and Relevance” at Kinnaird College – to help enhance the research culture in Pakistan that will hopefully lead to further exploration of the trends in research collaboration across South Asia as well as the types of networks, the funding models, and the outcomes.

Dr Jo Beall, British Council’s Director Education and Society Programme, said the council had developed several new courses and research initiatives through its Higher Education Programme in Pakistan. So far, he said, 120 strategic partnerships for research engaging around 3,500 researchers and 5,000 students had been managed by the British Council between Pakistan and UK universities under different programmes.

Dr Beall also visited the Research Poster Exhibition organised by the young female researchers at the Kinnaird College and discussed with them importance of research and development.

In Pakistan so far, more than 76 UK universities have formal partnerships or long-term agreements with Pakistani higher education institutions. About 98 per cent of all Pakistani vice-chancellors and rectors have received leadership training in the UK since 2010, which has allowed them to form relationships with the UK institutions.

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THE University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences last week organised an Educational-Industrial Exhibition and Job Fair on its City Campus.

Over 60 companies had set up their stalls at the fair, displayed their products and services and registered university students, who were nearing graduation, for jobs.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said the university was working in close collaboration with the industry since day one for the benefit of both the university students and industries. He said the job fair was one example of such collaboration in which over 60 companies participated actively. The university was also working at grassroots level, providing training and extension services to the community on their doorstep. Prof Pasha said there was enormous potential for growth in livestock, dairy and red meat industry and the UVAS was providing trained human resources to these sectors according to modern-day needs.

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THE federal government and all provinces have reaffirmed commitment to join hands for effective implementation of the technical and vocational education and training sector reform and offer uniform skill development opportunities to the youth.

A consensus on different aspects of the implementation of the ongoing TVET sector reform was reached at first-ever meeting of the Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee (IPCC), constituted jointly by the National Vocational & Technical Training Commission and provincial technical education and vocational training authorities (TEVTAs) last week. — mansoormalik173@hotmail.com