The Western Cape education department (WCED) has announced Zaywin Gillion as their winner of Story Stars creative writing competition. Gillion is a learner at the Hawston Primary School. Gillion’s story, Felix and Felicity and the Crystal of Light, came out tops in last year’s competition.
Story Stars is an annual WCED creative writing competition open to all grade 4 learners across the province. David Maynier, the minister of education in the province, said the competition aims to inspire the love of reading, writing, and storytelling in young learners, and to improve literacy in the Western Cape.
Gillion’s story, “Felix and Felicity and the Crystal of Light”, “is an adventure showcasing imagination and creative writing, using excellent punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary, Maynier noted.
As this year’s overall winner, Gillion’s adventurous story has been transformed into a fully animated short film, narrated by Gillion himself and featuring him as the intrepid hero alongside the beloved characters Felix and Felicity.
To keep the surprise, Gillion was approached discreetly at the end of last year so that he could record his narration before the film’s big reveal. The animated Story Stars film can be viewed on the WCED’s website.
And, as always, behind every school-based success is a dedicated teacher inspiring learners to take part. Thank you to Hawston Primary School grade 4 teacher Maurisia Booysen and Principal Neil Pedro for encouraging their learners to participate — and to all the teachers and schools across the province who entered the 2025 competition.
Gillion now joins the Story Stars “Hall of Fame,” alongside previous winners from 2020 to 2024.
The top 3 winners of 2025 are as follows:
- Best English Story and 1st place: Zaywin Gillion – Hawston Primary School, Overberg.
- Best Afrikaans Story and 2nd place: Jandré Visser – Overhex Primary, Cape Winelands
- Best Xhosa Story and 3rd place: Yonakha Zweli Ndawo – Nduli Primary, Cape Winelands