Talented up and coming writers were recognised at the 2018 Armadale Young Writers' Awards last Friday 7 September.
Now in its eighth year, this year's competition attracted 170 story submissions from students from Years 3 to 12.
The winning stories were praised for their ability to transport the reader to another world and ranged from tales of monsters and humans in This is War by Serene Benny, to a genius student who uses his computer skills to win money on horses in Cyberspace by David Poppe, to a story about five strangers who each come across an old woman in City Streets by Aydee Bull – who was the overall winner of this year's Awards.
Award winning children’s book author Norman Jorgensen was in attendance along with City of Armadale Councillor Colin Campbell who said the Awards which began in 2011 were a wonderful celebration of the written word and presented an opportunity to acknowledge the abundance of creative talent in the region.
“The City of Armadale continues to support written and creative expression and these awards recognise the exceptional talent of young people in our community.
“We have been extremely impressed with the standard of entries and are excited to see what the future brings for these imaginative young writers,” he said.
2018 Armadale Young Writers' Award winners:
Category - Years 3 & 4
1st Tuppence Cornelius
Danger Behind
2nd Lila McLeod
The Button
3rd Emelia Pickering
Chloe’s Unexpected Adventure
Category - Years 5 & 6
1st Serene Benny
This is War
2nd Reigan deCastro
Ancients Evil
3rd Pacey Van Burgel
The Boy in the Cellar
Category - Years 7 & 8
1st Aydee Bull
City Streets
2nd Dolapo Ogunleye
The day my life wasn’t the same
3rd Kyra Bredenhof
Open Hearts
Category Years 9 & 10
1st David Poppe
Cyberspace
2nd Rhea Manoj
Scream
3rd Berwan Dekker
Helheim’s Gate
Overall Winner
1st Aydee Bull
City Streets
Honourable mentions from the Years 11 & 12 category were Rania Arif, Taj Bouwhuis and Bonnie Morrison.
All winners received a trophy, certificate, cash prizes and vouchers. The winning stories have been compiled into an anthology which means that all winners are now published authors. The book will be available for loan from the City of Armadale Libraries and for viewing on the library website.
Entry forms for the 2019 competition will be available in May next year.
