PM’s Spelling Bee champion meets Queens Camilla during royal tour

This can only be described as a watershed year for Sydney Grammar School student Aditya Paul. The Year 7 scholar and avid writer is the recipient of consecutive Gold Finalist Awards in the 2023 and 2024 Commonwealth Essay Competition. The first commendation was bestowed when Aditya was a primary student at Epping Public School and soon after being notified of his 2024 award, Aditya, 13, was honoured with a face-to-face meeting with the Queen during her recent royal visit to Australia with King Charles.

At the Green Square Library event in Sydney on October 22, Queen Camilla presented Aditya and two other past finalists with framed certificates and her trademark winning smile.

Camilla, famously a keen reader and booklover, spoke with the three young essayists, took part in a student workshop and met with two of Australia’s most famous authors, Thomas Keneally and Liane Moriarty during the official engagement.

Aditya’s 2023 essay was centred on the theme of using one’s voice to create meaningful change. His most recent entry in the Commonwealth Essay Prize was a call to environmental action to reduce the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

As one of this year’s category winners of the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, Aditya’s next VIP meeting is with Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese. All three national champions will tour Parliament House in Canberra before a private meet and greet with Mr Albanese next month.