Western Cape Education celebrates Zaywin Gillion from Hawston Primary School as the 2025 Story Stars winner

Zaywin Gillion - Hawston Primary School: “Felix and Felicity and The Crystal of Light”

On Friday, 6 March 2026, I had the pleasure of visiting Hawston Primary School to announce the winners of the 2025 Story Stars creative writing competition.

Story Stars is an annual Western Cape Education Department (WCED) creative writing competition open to all Grade 4 learners across the province. It aims to inspire a love of reading, writing, and storytelling in young learners, and improve literacy in the Western Cape.

We are delighted to announce that Zawyin Gillion, from Hawston Primary School in the Overberg Education District, is the winner of the 5th annual Story Stars competition!

Zawyin’s story, “Felix and Felicity and the Crystal of Light”, is quite the adventure — written both imaginatively and creatively, and using excellent punctuation, spelling, and vocabulary throughout the submission. Congratulations!

As this year’s overall winner, Zawyin’s adventurous story has been transformed into a fully animated short film, narrated by Zaywin himself and featuring him as the intrepid hero alongside the beloved characters Felix and Felicity.

To keep the surprise, Zaywin 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 or downloaded here:

https://www.westerncape.gov.za/education/story-stars

It was wonderful to see the winning story come to life during the “premiere” of his animated film. The animators clearly enjoyed interpreting Zaywin’s characters and landscapes, creating lively movement, expressive sound design, and delightful character animation in this entertaining short film.

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.

Zaywin now joins the Story Stars “Hall of Fame,” alongside previous winners from 2020 to 2024.

Summary: In a quiet village between misty mountains and whispering forests, siblings Felix and Felicity discover a glowing map leading to the legendary Crystal of Light. Their journey takes them through dark forests, rising shadows, and daunting challenges — until they are guided by the brave and wise hero, Zaywin.

Together, they restore the crystal, bring back sunlight, and save the land from darkness in a story filled with adventure, courage, and imagination.

Top 3 winners for Story Stars 2025

The top 3 winners 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 Zwelindawo – Nduli Primary, Cape Winelands

Congratulations to all our winning learners on their outstanding creativity and imagination!

Launch of the 2026 Story Stars competition

The 2026 Story Stars competition is now officially open!

All Grade 4 learners in the Western Cape are invited to create the next instalment of Felix and Felicity’s adventures.

The competition blends creative writing with digital storytelling, giving learners the opportunity to become the writer, narrator, and star of their own animated film.

We are searching for imaginative, adventurous tales that stretch creativity and transport readers to new and exciting worlds. Previous winning stories and films can be viewed online for inspiration.

We encourage all of our Grade 4 teachers to submit their class’s best stories!

2026 competition format

This year, we will select:

• 1 winner in Afrikaans
• 1 winner in English
• 1 winner in Xhosa

An overall provincial winner will be chosen from these finalists. Winning schools and teachers will also receive prizes.

Deadline for entries: 15 May 2026

Prizes

The overall Story Stars winner will:

• Write, narrate, and star in their animated video
• Receive a tablet, book bag, and branded stationery
• Have their story shared widely with learners across the Western Cape

The winning school will receive a R10 000 transfer payment for learning and teaching support materials.

The winning teacher also receives a book bag and a voucher as appreciation for their role in fostering creativity.

The 2nd and 3rd place winners each receive a tablet, book bag, and stationery.

We can’t wait to read the exciting stories that our 2026 Grade 4 learners will write!

Enquiries:
Kerry Mauchline
Spokesperson to Minister David Maynier
E-mail: Kerry.Mauchline@westerncape.gov.za

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