For the last eight years, the editors of Lacuna have invited young people, aged 14 to 18, to tell their own stories about human rights and social justice.
The Writing Wrongs Schools Programme, run from the Centre for Human Rights in Practice, is a free outreach course, offering a series of workshops led by professional writers and journalists supporting young people in high schools to write about human rights issues that matter to them.
Winners in the past have tactfully examined experiences such as immigration, forced marriages, and human trafficking.
Inspired by a single sentence she snapped at her mother, our latest joint-winner Muna Alzuhairi explores internalised racism, anti-immigrant prejudice and the supposed superiority of the English language. But, beyond this, her story is a love letter to a fantastic mum who is unfairly overlooked and underestimated.
The second winning piece comes from Ollie Hadgie whose story unpicks the experience of being a first-generation immigrant, caught between heritage and identity as a teenager in modern Britain.
Below you can find Muna’s and Ollie’s pieces along with stories from our previous winners and runners-up.
For further details about the Writing Wrongs widening participation programme, or to register your interest, contact writingwrongs.law@warwick.ac.uk
