Celebrating Eurobodalla's young writers

For the second year running, a young writer from Moruya High School has taken out the three top prizes in the Eurobodalla Mayor’s Writing Competition.

Sharna Macnamara won the Syd Hayes Creative Writing Award, the Eurobodalla Writers Group Perpetual Shield, and the 16-18 years age category for her story called “Running in the dark” - about child walking to the post box during a storm, who loses their umbrella, then hears a noise urging them to run.

Sharna was joined by 12 other young writers aged 5 to 18, whose families and friends filled the Council Chambers in Moruya on Thursday to hear Clr Lindsay Brown announce the prize winners.

The competition is now in its eighth year and this year’s judges Councillor Danielle Brice, Ms Olgamary Savage, and two members of the Eurobodalla Writers Group, Ms Mavis Hayes and Ms Louise Falcioni said all 160 entries were imaginative and thoughtful and were judged on their creativity and ability to captivate the reader.

In congratulating the finalists, Mayor Lindsay Brown said this unique competition allows young people the freedom and confidence to creatively express themselves through writing stories and illustrating.

“I’m very proud to be part of a competition that celebrates and nurtures the literary talents of our community’s young people. We loved your stories and we want you to keep up your writing and your reading.”

“Thanks also to our enthusiastic and dedicated judges, and to our wonderful library staff for their support of this competition and their ongoing work that fosters a love of reading and the written word in people of all ages,” the Mayor said. “In fact, a parent of one of our winners told me that her daughter had been inspired to write after attended a writing and illustrating workshop at Batemans Bay library.”

For winning the Syd Hayes Creative Writing Award, Sharna Macnamara was once again the proud recipient of a handcrafted pen made by Richard Turley from local coastal banksia.

Sharna, who is only a second-time entrant and is completing her HSC this year, said she felt really proud. “I definitely didn’t expect to win again this year. I’ve been doing lots more reading since last year and I think this has helped my writing,” she said.

All 13 finalists received a professionally bound anthology that includes their own story and illustrations. Winners and runners-up each received a certificate and a book voucher.

The 2016 Mayor’s Writing Competition anthology is available for loan from Eurobodalla’s libraries in Moruya, Narooma and Batemans Bay.