THE CREATOR of a powerful monologue addressing child sexual abuse wanted to give people "the courage to speak up", having described herself as a "wallflower".

Hajra Bibi won the Outstanding Student of the Year Award at the Community Stars Awards last Wednesday.

She was presented the award by Leader of the Council Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe (pictured right).

There were 1,241 votes in the category in total, with Ms Bibi receiving 563 of those.

The other finalists were, Ahseem Yousef and Gina Jovanovich.

Ms Bibi said on receiving the award: “I still can’t believe it.

“When they announced my name I was like, ‘why me?’

“Because I was seriously expecting the others, because I saw the nomination and I was like, they did more work than me, so they were going to win.

“So I wasn’t expecting this, but I feel really happy right now.”

The monologue Ms Bibi created was submitted for her Gold Arts Award.

It “explored feelings of fear, disgust, denial, guilt and isolation that a victim may experience", according to somebody who nominated the school student.

Ms Bibi wrote and directed the monologue recording and this inspired other ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) students to write, perform and record their own creations.

A person who nominated Ms Bibi said: "“She directed the monologue recording and used it to give a voice to other ESOL students who then wrote, performed and recorded their own monologues, helping them to improve their own speaking and listening skills and building their confidence to discuss important issues in a second language."

Ms Bibi describes herself as a "wallflower", who prefers to sit in the background, and wanted a way to share her feelings and thoughts in a way she felt comfortable with.

She said: "It is really difficult for me to make my voice heard, and it is such an effort to participate in any

activities, but I know that this will improve me in the future.”

Ms Bibi also explained that she enjoys the feeling of helping others.

She said: “When I was doing my arts award, when I wrote my monologue and Julia performed, I just wanted people to hear my message and just relate to it and have the courage to speak up if they need to.

“That was my only feeling.

“About the award, even when I was nominated, I told my teacher, ‘I’m not going to win this.’

“So I seriously didn’t expect it.”

Looking to the future, Ms Bibi is unclear what it might hold for her at this point.

But one thing she knows is, she wants to continue to help others.

She said: “I’m still not really sure about the future.

“I’m doing criminology right now, but I want to do something like arts, do something in the community as well, because I really feel nice while doing this.

“I will do something, but what, I haven’t really thought about that.”