A HARROW School pupil was shortlisted today for an award in a journalism competition by a human rights charity.
Daniel Hallstrom, 16, has been nominated for Amnesty International’s Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year award.
Nearly 600 children from across the country entered the competition. Amnesty International were supported in organising by the secondary school education weekly newspaper, SecEd. Daniel’s entry has made the final ten.
Daniel's story is about imprisoned Nurmehemmet Yasin and the suppression of the Uighar ethnic group in China.
He said: “It’s a great honour for me to have got this far in the competition. I am humbled to have been chosen among the top ten, as I understand the field was very strong.
“However, more importantly, if through my writing of this piece the struggles of a silenced army of Chinese artists and free thinkers is highlighted, people who have been deprived of fundamental and universal human rights, that is, the freedom of speech and thought, then that will be the defining achievement.”
Philip Evans, house master of Moretons at Harrow School, said: “Daniel is a remarkable young man, certainly one of the most intellectually gifted boys I have ever come across.
“He is passionate about those subjects that capture his attention and imagination and I am delighted that his talent has been recognised through his success.”
Pete Henshaw, editor of SecEd, helped draw up the shortlist. He said: “Daniel’s story of Nurmehemmet Yasin, who is in jail in China, engages the reader immediately with questions of why.
"As Daniel’s narrative slowly reveals the story, we learn that the jail term is because Mr Yasin himself wrote a short story.
“This one story of human oppression is used expertly to introduce the wider issue of the suppression of the Uighar ethnic group.
"Moving from narrative to factual reporting, Daniel explains the history of this group of people, their persecution, but the use of one man’s struggle brings it to life and enables the reader to grasp this major issue.”
The winner will be announced at a ceremony on May 19 and their work will be showcased at Amnesty’s annual Media Awards in central on May 24.
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