A young writer from High Wycombe is one of 40 children to be shortlisted for a Young Muslim Writer Award.

Nine-year-old Maryam Khan, a pupil at Burford School in Marlow, has fought off competition from hundreds of other children to be shortlisted in the Key Stage 2 poetry category awards, for her poem called ‘Midnight Town’.

The Young Muslim Writers Awards was set up as a competition for five to 16 year olds in 2010, to celebrate literary talent, following its success as part of Muslim Hands’ Muslim Writers Awards and for the last three years, the awards have been presented in association with the Yusuf Islam Foundation.

All submissions by the talented young writers have been assessed by an internationally renowned panel of judges including Carnegie Medal winner Tim Bowler, novelist and poet Louis de Bernières who is most popular for his novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin as well as poet, broadcaster and playwright Gillian Clarke.

Maryam, who enjoys writing action stories, said: “I applied for the contest thinking 'I am not actually going to get near to winning the competition' but I obviously got proven wrong.

“I applied because I go to an Islamic class and one of the teachers there is very interested in competition and writing and she told all of us to apply for the competition and I knew this was my chance.

“When my mum told me I had got shortlisted I felt extremely excited and now I feel like entering competitions even more.”

Maqsood Ahmed, Director of Community Development, said the judges were ‘hugely impressed’ with the number of entries this year.

He said: “We were very pleased with the high number of initial entries received and hugely impressed with the literary talent across young Muslims in the UK.

“The entries clearly reflect the passion and aptitude behind these young writers and they are very enthusiastic about the upcoming ceremony. As this event continues to grow year by year, we hope to see more children excel in the field of creative writing in the future.”

The winners of the competition will be announced on December 5 at the Muslim Hands’ annual ceremony and will be broadcast on Islam Channel, the official media partner of the competition.