Overall Winner 2026
Headlights
By Ada Onur
I see them before the world turns off.
Juddering like a jammed projector,
spluttering out the final lines:
a proposal, at midnight
under a moonlit New York
sky. I hear it before I do-
the screech of brakes buckling,
the engine coughing up
metallic plumes
like an asthmatic. As
I fall, the concrete exhales to
catch me, and suddenly
I’m that little girl, with nail polish
and ribbons around her
bunches, before she slips,
chuckling, into a pile of ash.
The beams carve the
tilting reel into lifelines, until
I’m tracing yours
sloping, forgotten, across
the cracked palm
of your hand.
Senior Category Winners
KS3 (Age 13)
The Last Lantern
Alexander Lueth, King’s College School
KS3 (Age 11)
The Light
Alice Williams, Ursuline High School
KS5 (Age 17)
What We Cannot Have
Emilia Lygonska, Ursuline High School
SEN Senior (Age 12)
The Light
Jonathan McAnuff, Cricket Green School
KS4 (Age 16)
Capturing a Moment
Mia Nijs, Marymount International School London
SEN Senior (Age 12)
The Beach
Olivia Porter, Cricket Green School
KS5 (Age 17)
The Light We Learn to Carry
Santhosh Thirukumaran, Harris Academy Wimbledon
SEN Senior (Age 16)
The Light in Saudi Arabia
Shahana Kirupakaram, Cricket Green School
Junior Category Winners
KS1
Fireworks Minuet
Austen Ern Rui Kueh, Liberty Woodland School
SEN Junior
The Light
Danyal Lilani, Cricket Green School
KS2 Lower
Colours Light
Elijah Losardo, Shrewsbury House School
KS2 Lower
The Lightbulb
Ella Semple, Sellincourt Primary School
KS1
The Light of Atropia
Komila Khakimova, Wimbledon Chase Primary School
KS2 Upper
Midnight Sun
Mason Marsh, Esher Church School
KS2 Upper
Lights, Camera, Refr(action)!
Om Bindal, Dundonald Primary School
SEN Junior
Bright Lights Scare Me
Yusuf Mahmood, Blossom House School
This competition is in partnership with the University of Roehampton.
