Entries are now open for the Young Writers’ Award, a unique opportunity for children aged between nine and thirteen to become published authors. The Award provides a platform for young writers to showcase their storytelling abilities in the form of either a short story, or a picture book. The winner will enjoy the thrill of seeing their story illustrated and printed as both a hard copy and e-book.
The brainchild of Redgum Book Club, this new Award aims to uncover the budding authors of the future. Founder of Redgum Book Club, Sharon Evans, believes the Young Writers’ Award will help develop the writing skills of this age group, and enable them find their unique voice through storytelling. “I’m sure the next Jackie French or Andy Griffiths is out there just waiting for the right opportunity to come along. We believe children are great storytellers and wanted to create an opportunity where they can showcase their talents and be rewarded for trying. We are excited to see what stories unfold.”
The Award is supported by a strong judging panel of industry experts, each with a passion for storytelling and the written word. Teacher, librarian and author, Allison Paterson will be joined by Australian Library and Information Association representative, Mylee Joseph and award winning children’s author, Dianne Bates. Paterson is delighted to be involved “I’m really excited to be part of such a great opportunity for writers in this age group. The Young Writers’ Award is about encouraging a love of reading and writing and to inspire children to commit their thoughts and ideas to paper, but above all, to have fun in the process,” she said.
The Award has been designed to make entry as simple as possible. There are no mandatory themes or topics, so the only limitation is imagination. The Award can be entered by individuals, or by schools as part of their writing programs. Each category will have an overall winner, as well as two highly commended books shortlisted by the judging panel. The Children’s Picture Book Award will require a short, structured story, fiction or non-fiction, of up to 250 words, and the Children’s Short Story Award will require a work of fiction up to 1000 words.
Additional resources will be available on the Young Writers’ Award website and will include a virtual toolbox of ideas to assist children, parents and teachers, as well as all of the details and links to help budding authors create their very own masterpiece.
The Young Writers’ Award is a new and exciting national initiative designed to inspire children aged between nine and thirteen to bring their creative ideas to life on paper, and foster the joy of both reading and writing.
Entries for the award are open in two categories:
The Children’s Picture Book category
- A short, structured story to 250 words, fiction or non-fiction
- Story only, no illustrations required
- The winning story will be professionally illustrated and produced as a 32-page hard copy and e-book
The Children’s Short Story category
- A work of short fiction between 850 and 1000 words
- Story only, no illustrations required
- The winning story will be illustrated and produced as an early reader hard copy and e-book of between 72 and 96 pages
Best of all, the winner of each category will become a published author, with an e-book and a hard copy book illustrated and distributed through Redgum Book Club.
Entries open Wednesday 22 July 2015
Entries close Friday 11 December 2015
Shortlist announced Monday 22 February 2016
Winners announced Wednesday 9 March 2016
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Allison Paterson
When Allison was a child she had the chance to travel to the other side of the world and marvel at the birthplaces of the most famous and memorable characters of children’s stories – Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and Matilda. As a child, she wrote books and wanted to grow up and be a writer, and now forty years later her childhood dream has come true.
Her first book for adults called Anzac Sons: the Story of Five Brothers in the War to End All Wars is the true story of her family’s experience in World War I. Allison wanted to share the story with children so wrote a children’s version titled Anzac Sons: Five Brothers on the Western Front. Right now she is working on the challenge of creating a picture book.
As well as being an author, Allison has been a teacher for thirty years. When she wasn’t teaching children to read, she was reading children’s books as her work as a reviewer.
Mylee Joseph
Mylee is a library industry specialist with a diverse background working in research and public libraries in New South Wales. For a number of years she led the State Library of NSW Innovation Project trialing social media tools for service delivery and digital engagement with the community. She provides advice on policy, strategy and operational matters to the NSW public library network within the Public Library Services team.
Her interests include repositioning and re-imagining libraries to meet the changing needs of their communities.
Mylee has been a member on the Australian Library and Information Associations, Children’s and Youth Services special interest group, holding various roles including national awards convener; secretary; group convener and publicity officer. She was Co-organiser of the National Year of Reading ALIACYS conference for 2012.
Dianne Bates
Dianne Bates grew up in rural NSW with a passion for books and reading. This passion continued into adulthood and saw Di enter the world of teaching where she went on to work with primary school children, as well as conducting writing workshops for both adults and children. Fast forward to 2015 and Di is now a manuscript assessor and also compiles the children’s book industry online newsletter, Buzz Words. An award winning author with 130 plus books under her belt, Di has also won national and state literary awards including two Australian children’s book choice awards (KOALA and WAYRBA).
Di has worked on the editorial team of the NSW Department of Education School Magazine and is co-editor of a national children’s magazine, Puffinalia (Penguin Books) and editor of national children’s magazine, Little Ears.
In 2008, Di was awarded The Lady Cutler Award for distinguished services to children’s Literature and in her spare time runs a proactive blog called Writing for Children, as well as an Australian Children’s Poetry blog
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