Young writers celebrated at annual awards

The South Perth Young Writers Awards were presented last week on Thursday 19 July at a ceremony that celebrated the 32nd anniversary of the prestigious awards and applauded the creative talent of local youth.

Since 1987, the awards have been held every year to provide students with an opportunity to develop their writing skills and recognise their extraordinary creative talent. The Award encourages excellence in creative writing from school age children either residing or attending school in the City of South Perth.

This year over 300 entries were received, which reflects the passion young people have for using their creative writing skills to share stories.  

Shortlisted entrants were invited to attend a writing workshop with author Deb Fitzpatrick to gain valuable tips and tricks to improve their story. Fourteen winners were selected from the five age categories for prose, with winners acknowledged at the awards ceremony for their outstanding efforts in five age categories across primary and secondary schools. 

The Christobel Mattingley Bronze Medallion, awarded by the judging panel to the most outstanding entry in any given year was, this year awarded to Year 8 student David Batt from Wesley College his entry, ‘The Race’.

The Awards are held yearly to provide local students with an opportunity to develop their writing skills.

Awards were also presented to:

Year One

• First Prize: Thomas Richardson (South Perth Primary School)
• Second Prize: Nathan Huynh (Aquinas College)
• Highly Commended: James Branchi (Wesley College)
• Highly Commended: Saskia Tan (Penrhos College)

Lower Primary

• First Prize: Oceana Oakley (Como Primary School)
• Second Prize: Penny Abbott (Como Primary School)

Upper Primary

• First Prize: Matthew Arnold (Kensington Primary School)
• Equal Second Prize: Madeleine Pink (St Columba’s Catholic Primary School)
• Equal Second Prize: Ethan Widjaja (Aquinas College)

Lower Secondary

• First Prize: David Batt (Wesley College)
• Second Prize: Sophie Harvey-Lissienko (Penrhos College)
• Highly Commended: Ethan O’Connor (Aquinas College)

Upper Secondary

• First Prize: Isabelle Wilson (Penrhos College)
• Second Prize: Arielle Watts (Perth Modern School)

“The South Perth Young Writers Award has a long and prestigious history of encouraging young people who live in the City of South Perth or attend our local schools to explore a wide spectrum of subjects, styles and themes in their writing,” Deputy Mayor Glenn Cridland said.

“It’s wonderful to see such talent in our City and I encourage all those who have such a strong interest in writing to continue to develop your skills in this area. Congratulations to everyone who entered this year, the standard of entries each year sets the bar higher and higher. Keep on writing and remember to enter again next year.”

Since the Award’s inception, almost 20,000 entries have been received. Every year an anthology of winning entries is produced to recognise the achievement of the young writers, with copies of these anthologies available to view at South Perth Library and Manning Library. The 2018 anthology will be available to view on the Library section on the City’s website soon.

The Award is supported by the City of South Perth and the Mill Point Caffè Bookshop. 

Entries for the South Perth Young Writers Award 2019 will open early January 2019.