15-year-old Tomisin Olawepo-Hashim wins CLC school essay competition

Fifteen-year-old creative Nigerian-American Benenden School student, Tomisin Olawepo-Hashim, has emerged as one of the winners of the 2026 Cambridge Language Collective (CLC) Schools’ Essay Competition.

The CLC schools’ essay competition, which is divided into four categories —politics, philosophy, literature, and film and art — is organised every year for junior and senior secondary school students in the United Kingdom.

The essay competition questions cover both arts and culture, and politics and society and can be answered in any language.

Tomisin was announced as the winner in the junior Film and Art category, and her winning essay is expected to be published by CLC alongside the other category-winning entries.

The young creative CLC schools’ essay competition feat marks another significant milestone for her in her acting, film, art, writing, and storytelling endeavours.

Tomisin said she is delighted to have been recognised in a subject area closely connected to her passion, which is the creative arts, noting that the feat marks another promising chapter in her creative journey towards academic excellence, performance, storytelling, and artistic expression.

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At just 14 years old, she gained a coveted place at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, one of the United Kingdom’s most established and respected institutions for nurturing young creative talent.

Tomisin’s mother, Dr Funmi Adewara, noted that her daughter’s success in the CLC essay competition adds to the growing achievements of young people of Nigerian heritage making their mark across British education and the creative industries.

“I am incredibly proud to watch Tomisin discover and develop her own voice. What makes this achievement particularly special is seeing her creativity, writing, and love of the arts coming together,” she said.

Dr Adewara also said that she is proud of her daughter, not simply for the recognition she is receiving, but also for her curiosity, discipline and courage to keep learning, creating, and expressing herself.