Singapore: A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl in Singapore has won the first prize for writing a story in Hindi in a literary competition at the inaugural "Hindi Prerna Awards".
Saamiya Khan, won the competition in the children group of age 8-12, is taking Hindi as a second language, which is compulsory in Singapore school curriculum for students of north Indian origins.
The competition was held for three groups, pupils of 8-12-year-old in children group, students of 13-16 in youth group and those above 16 in the higher learning classes in the open group.
Saamiya, a primary four pupil, says she was inspired by her parents, Mohammed Shariq Khan and Sheba Khan, to learn Hindi and now speaks more confidently on telephone with her grandparents in Mumbai.
India's High Commissioner Vijay Thakur Singh handed over the prize to Saamiya.
Anshul Tukol won the story writing in the youth group and Anjali Tripathi for the open group.
Sanjay Kumar topped the competition winning all three categories of the awards - poetry, public speaking and writing for the open group.
More than 100 pupils and students from Singapore schools took part in the three-month long competition.
Forty-five of them were short-listed and went through the day-long final competition on Saturday.
"We aim to be connected with the Hindi language and culture through these awards," said Mamta Mandal, founder of the Hindi Prerna Awards and Global Hindi Organisation.
"We are encouraging our younger generation to be linked to their roots in India through the language and culture," she said.
Mandal aims to make the awards a global platform for the Indian diaspora's younger generation learning Hindi across the world.
