A WINCHESTER girl has picked up a top national prize for political writing.
13-year-old Mihika Bhattacharya was one of the winners of The Orwell Youth Prize for her essay "The Language of Home".
In the prose piece, Mihika, who attends King's School, details her lack of a sense of belonging, having grown up between England and India, and reflects on the meaning of our sense of home and the languages we speak.
Those interested in reading it can follow this link.
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Polly Toynbee, Orwell Prize-winning political commentator and one of the judges, said: "This thoughtful elegiac writing tells two stories of migration, about India and Ukraine, that speak of a visceral fear of losing a mother-tongue: this elegant description will resonate powerfully with all trying to hold on to their origins while settling elsewhere.”
The Orwell Prize is organised and funded by The Orwell Foundation, and according to its website it is the "UK's most prestigious prize for political writing".
The theme for this year's edition of the prize was "Home".
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