Prince Charles with students

On Monday 18 February, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales was introduced to the Commonwealth Essay Competition as part of a workshop for students aged 12-18 years-old held at the Pitt Building in Cambridge.

Taking the 2013 Commonwealth Theme ‘Opportunity through Enterprise’ for inspiration, students attended a day-long seminar to explore issues of employment and employability in the Commonwealth. The event marks three weeks before the Theme is formally launched in the presence of HM The Queen at the Commonwealth Day Observance in Westminster Abbey on Monday 11 March.

As part of the day, excited students attended a creative-writing workshop, where they used the essay competition as a vehicle to explore different ways of expressing their views, before presenting their recommendations on tackling youth unemployment in the Commonwealth to The Prince.

The day coincided with the launch of an online submission platform, through which students will be able to submit their essays electronically. Run by the Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883, the 2013 Commonwealth Essay Competition is being run in partnership with Cambridge University Press. As the world’s oldest and largest schools’ international writing competition, the competition celebrates and nurtures the creative talents of young people, providing a platform for students to compete with their peers in each of the 54 nations of the Commonwealth. Past winners include the Prime Minister of Singapore Mr Lee Hsien Loong and author and journalist Elspeth Huxley.

Michael Lake, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, said: “The 2013 Commonwealth Essay Competition offers students an opportunity to explore enterprise in a creative and international environment. We are thrilled that young people were today able to share their learnings with HRH The Prince of Wales.”

Claudia Bickford-Smith, Director of International Education, Cambridge University Press, said: “Cambridge University Press is delighted to be sponsoring the Commonwealth Essay Competition 2013. This is the first year of our involvement, so we were especially pleased to welcome everyone to the Pitt Building in Cambridge for this exciting, educational and creative event around this year's theme of Opportunity through Enterprise.”

In 2012 over 8,000 young writers took part and 1,000 participants from 245 schools, in 38 countries across the Commonwealth received an award for their entry. Royal Commonwealth Society, 18/2/13.