Winners of the Plan Malawi-organized poetry competition will today receive medals and certificates during the commemoration of the International Day of the Girl at Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc).

Their appearance at the event will be marked by performances following the announcement of the top nine winners of the Rewrite Her Story poetry competition on Monday. The nine girls have outshined over 130 other entries in the competition.

Charity Kamanyauli, 20, Chifuniro Khombera, 18, and Patience Chipsagule, 13, came out tops in their respective categories.

Plan Malawi communications and competitions manager Rogers Siula reiterated the call for girls to keep voicing out their concerns in as far as media representation is concerned.

“Any piece of communication that denies or undermines girls’ experiences is a direct challenge to their power to effect change,” he said.

The competition is part of the Girls Get Equal global campaign which seeks to demand the media, among others, to stop the sexualisation and objectification of girls and women.

The three have won K100 000 worth of prizes while those on second and third positions have earned K75 000 and K50 000 worth of prizes respectively.

The judging panel, which comprised poet Robert Chiwamba, Chawanangwa Nyirenda and Murhenderhe Dula, looked at a number of key points such as creativity, style and originality to determine the winners.

According to Chiwamba, the entries were powerful and impressive since most girls were able to articulate the thematic area poetically.