Pakistani-American high school student Mahnoor Qazi has been awarded the James Baldwin Award for Fiction in the U.S. state of California, organizers announced this week.
Qazi, an aspiring writer and a student at Golden Valley High School in California, is dedicated to connecting the art of literature with deep human emotions. Her entry, titled “Eternity,” earned her the first prize of $10,000.
Darlene Burnett, Baldwin’s niece, commented, “As his niece, it is an honor to select the recipient of the James Baldwin Award for Fiction. These young writers continue to show that the power of words can enlighten minds, ignite imagination, and craft narratives that compel us to read and feel. They are the future architects of literature.”
Other categories included the Freedom of Expression Award, the Michelle Obama Award for Memoir, the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry, and the Maya Angelou Award for Spoken Word.
Since 1993, the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards (CWA) program has awarded over $2.9 million to public high school students for their original compositions.
The James Baldwin Award for Fiction is one of six creative writing awards presented by Penguin Random House—regarded as the world’s largest trade book publisher—under its signature CWA program. The award is named in honor of James Baldwin, a renowned novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and critic.
