Every year the Orkney Heritage Society runs a county-wide competition for secondary school students in S2 called The Fereday Prize. The youngsters are asked to submit a piece of their own historical research which must have an Orkney theme.

Erin Miller (13), after due consideration, decided she would base her project on “The History of the Bahá’í Faith in Orkney”, a theme she reckoned probably had not been studied before by any previous entrants! Erin spent a lot of her time researching the life of Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, Charles Dunning, who brought the Faith to Orkney. She also included information on the history of our Bahá’í Centre in Kirkwall; the early believers who embraced the Faith here; interviews with the Friends; Orkney’s first Local Spiritual Assembly; and the main principles of the Faith.

Although Erin did not win the overall first prize in the competition, the external judges were sufficiently impressed with her work that they awarded her one of twelve runners-up places and a “Very Highly Commended” certificate. Finalists have been photographed for the local press, and their work is to be displayed in Kirkwall Library. We are very proud of Erin. She is a quiet unassuming young lady, and has brought the Bahá’í Faith to the attention of many others in the way she could do best.

At the children’s class the bairns made beautiful cards with different virtues on them and attached a ‘peerie’ sweetie to them. In the social part of the Feast they handed them out to the adults. I especially liked seeing the scenery through the windows too!