THE 2019 YOUNG MATHEMATICAL STORY AUTHORS (YMSA)
COMPETITION
THE STUART J. MURPHY AWARD
(THE 8-10 YEARS OLD CATEGORY)
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With 200 entries from 18 schools across 5 countries to judge, the Stuart J. Murphy Award (the 8-10 years old category) is competitive this year.
Many congratulations to the authors of the winning and shortlisted entries! The winner receives £100 and their school another £100. The Award is generously funded by HarperCollins.
You can read these talented authors' mathematical stories, their inspiration for the stories, and the judges' comments below.
Feel free to share their works on social media using the #YMSAMaths hashtag.
We would also like to acknowledge and thank all the authors and their schools (and parents) for encouraging these authors to participate in the YMSA competition. Below is the list of this year's participating schools (and homeschooling sites).
British International School Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)
Buckden Academy (UK)
Deutsche Schule Bombay International School (India)
Elmhurst School (UK)
Hardwick & Cambourne Community Primary School (UK)
Lanesborough Prep School (UK)
Merryhills Primary School (UK)
Michael F. Stokes School (New York, USA)
Oundle Church of England Primary School (UK)
Rasami British International School (Thailand)
Sandhills Community Primary School (UK)
Silver Oaks International School (India)
Smarden Primary School (UK)
St Francis de Sales Catholic Junior School (UK)
St Peter and St Paul Catholic Primary Academy (UK)
Swan Lane First School (UK)
Whalley Church of England Primary School (UK)
Whitecotes Primary Academy (UK)
If you want to read the winning and shortlisted entries of our 2019 Cindy Neuschwander Award (the 11-13 years old category), click here.
If you want to learn about our competition next year, click here.
WINNER
'Chimi's Pancakes' by Hansini A. Karthik (9 years old)
at Silver Oaks International School (India)
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What the judges say: "This author/illustrator has created a wonderful tale about a chef named Chimi who is making pancakes for her entire neighborhood. The story is engaging and has a real-world feel as Chimi deals with the problem of having to determine which three flavors of pancakes are the most popular and how many of each she should make. The operations signs become the characters who help her by using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to collect data and organize it so that Chimi can make her decisions. The mathematics is nicely integrated into the storyline and the ending is very satisfying. Congratulations on a job well done!" |
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What the author says: "The inspiration for my mathematical story came from the discussions that we had on data handling with our teacher, Miss Shanthi Padmakumar. I also used simple concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division which we use in our daily life. I enjoy creating characters, naming and drawing them for the story. I would encourage other students to also write mathematical stories that will bring out imagination and make them creative. It is indeed a good idea to create mathematical story picture books and make mathematics learning fun. I would like to keep half of the prize money in my account and contribute the remaining to "Coins for the Country", an initiative of my school to help underprivileged children with their education. After all, everyone has a right to good education." |
SHORTLISTED
'Around the Clock' by Marvan Gunasekara (10 years old)
at St Francis de Sales Catholic Junior School (UK)
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What the judges say: "This is a very creative story about Mr. Long Hand and Mrs. Short Hand and how they show the time of day on the face of a clock. They have twelve friends, the twelve hours of the clock, which are colored-coded to the illustrations. The real adventures begin when Mr. and Mrs. Hand become dizzy and the clock stops. Children help them place themselves in the correct positions to show various specific times. The illustrations include interesting visualizations and demonstrate a good understanding of time. Nicely done!" |
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What the author says: "My inspiration to make my maths story was myself because I used to struggle a lot with time so I decided to help others who struggle with the concept of time by putting my own knowledge for beginners into a story for the competition. I think that creating a mathematical story picture book is a good way to help people know how to write stories and help others to learn a certain maths topic." |
SHORTLISTED
'Ben and His Favourite Snack' by Olivia (10 years old)
at St Peter and St Paul Catholic Primary Academy (UK)
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What the judges say: "This is the story of Ben and his three siblings as they try to share their snacks. The author makes good use of fractions within a real-world context. There is a nice emphasis on the use of maths models to solve problems. The story is well written and very engaging!" |
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What the author says: "My inspiration for this story was a memory I have of me and my cousins. They always want to have my snacks instead of theirs, and I used that idea to help write my story. I enjoyed writing my maths story because I thought it was a great way to bring maths and English together!" |
SHORTLISTED
'Square Eyes' by Gelila Dereje (10 years old)
at St Francis de Sales Catholic Junior School (UK)
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What the judges say: "This is a fun story about a girl named Eleni who finds a box but must discover a secret code to unlock it. Eleni gets distracted from her mission as her entire world starts to multiply before her eyes. Eventually, she discovers the code by using square numbers. However, when she opens the box, her world becomes suddenly cubed. The mathematics is nicely integrated within the story and the entire concept is ambitious and very clever!" |
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What the author says: "My inspiration for the story was Michael Rosen [English children's novelist] and Miss Bishop [class teacher], because without them I wouldn't even know about it. I enjoyed it because it was my first time entering a maths competition and it is a great experience. I would encourage other pupils to create maths story picture books, because they can get a reward and they can improve both their English and Maths." |
SHORTLISTED
'The Adventures of Bing the Panda' by Abigail (10 years old)
at St Peter and St Paul Catholic Primary Academy (UK)
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What the judges say: "In this story, Bing the Panda and his friend Sparky the Tiger work together to find the bamboo sticks and portraits that were stolen from Bing's mother's house. The illustrations in this story are charming and the language is very advanced and colorful. A few examples include the description of a "large, green silky field" and "they scurried over the hills and valleys." There is also a feeling of empathy as the characters interact with one another. We especially enjoyed the multiple representations of the mathematics, which have been depicted visually, numerically, and within the story itself. Excellent!" |
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What the author says: "I was inspired to use a panda as a main character as it is my favourite animal. I set him on an adventure because I love adventures and exploring. I would definitely recommend other students to write and create mathematical story picture books as it was a great experience, and I got to learn and had fun at the same time. I loved using my maths to help write the story." |
