Passionate group of Hilltops writers invites entries to its 42nd annual competition

Last year a short story about a banana in undies by Rosie Scott from Boorowa’s St Joseph’s Primary School was declared a winner among record entries in a national writing competition run out of the Hilltops region.

Rosie’s entry took out first place in the Years 1, 2 and 3 section of the Lambing Flat-Young Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) NSW annual writing competition, while commendations and encouragement awards went to a further four of the small school’s students.

The group describes itself as a passionate network of writers who meet on a monthly basis to support each other in the creative process of writing.

For 42 years they have been encouraging writers of all ages and all genres through the annual Short Story and Poetry Competition and nobody is more enthusiastic about that than St Joseph’s Primary School principal Mark Birks.

Each year, he said, all students from Years One to Six at the school, 66 in total, are expected to prepare an entry, a tradition that’s been embedded in the school calendar for years.

“They can write about whatever they want; they can write a narrative or poetry, but the topic or story is completely up to them,” he said.

“It’s a great win for our kids and gives them motivation to write,” he said. “When they’re just writing for the teacher it gets a bit monotonous – so this gives the students the opportunity to write for a wider audience.

“It’s all about an outcome around writing differently depending on the audience and they know it goes to judges and they get a prize,” he said.

Prizemoney and certificates are presented to the winners during Young’s annual Cherry Festival celebrations in December but for the writing group, seeing the next generation of writers and poets being encouraged by their teachers to have a go is their greatest reward.

In 2023, amid a record number of entries, Alan Hewett from Wodonga, Victoria, won the $200 first prize in the Adult Short Story section for his story, Fair Game and Julie Butler from Walcha, NSW, won first prize in the $200 Adult Poetry section for her poem, Field to Page.

The entries indeed were national as they poured in from as far afield as Tasmania and Atherton in Queensland, with a strong representation from Sydney, Victoria, ACT and one entry from WA with a rich selection from across the NSW South West Slopes and Riverina.

With the organisers now calling for entries in the 2024 competition, there are three cash prizes are up for grabs in the Open Adult section, for a 1500-word short story or 50-line poem, beyond the $200 first prize, with $75 offered to second place winners and $25 to third place winners.

The school section of the competition is incentivised by one free entry for both story and poetry sections where students are invited to submit a short story or poem in three age categories – Junior Primary (Years One, Two, Three), Primary (Years Four, Five, Six) and Secondary (Years Seven to 12).

Cash prizes range from $30 for Junior Primary winners to $100 for Secondary winners of each category.

To make the competition fair, organisers say every story is judged blind so the five judges are not aware of who the authors are or where they come from.

Each story entered is read multiple times and assessed on plot, characters, theme, setting and atmosphere, mechanics, writing quality and whether the reader’s emotions are engaged.

And, a couple of tips from the judges:

• They’re looking for well-structured stories with believable characters that hold the reader’s attention.
• Any dialogue should be natural and in keeping with the story’s character/s.
• Read, re-read and edit – read your story out aloud as the judges do.
• Check for spelling errors; be wary of predictive text manifesting itself in your text; be consistent.
• Check for the overuse or incorrect use of words.
• Check for grammatical and typographical errors.
• Check your syntax. Does a sentence say what you mean or something else altogether?
• Consider the length of your sentences. Would your story be better served with shorter sentences?

The competition was launched last month by Riverina MP Michael McCormack, whose stellar career as a journalist saw him ultimately at the helm as editor of Wagga’s The Daily Advertiser, before he turned his hand to politics.

Mr McCormack said he was delighted to officially open the 42nd annual writing competition.

Entries close on 11 October and prizewinners will be announced at the National Cherry Festival on 1 December.

For an entry form, further details and terms and conditions, email [email protected] or contact James on 0418 161 472 or John on 0408 699 507.