Awards were presented at the Princess Margaret Hospital Megazone on October 11 2006 by
The Honourable Jaye Radisich, Member of Parliament for Swan Hills in Western Australia.
Winner:
Winner:
Highly Commended:
Commended:
Jackson's Art Award:
Winner:
Highly Commended:
Jackson's Art Award:
Winner:
Highly Commended:
Jackson's Art Award:
It is not as easy to write a children's book as many people believe, unless, of course, you are a celebrity and then, like money and fame, it comes easily. But, regardless of desire and fashion trends, writing a successful children's story such as Playing Beatie Bow or Bridge to Terabithia requires thought and skill.
A couple of things came to mind while I read through the entries in the adults section. Good children's stories, especially for an adolescent audience, require a couple of important elements. The skill is in creating characters who are typical but believable, who behave expectedly but do something unexpected. Giving characters depth and showing how they change also depends largely on the plot, which should take the reader on a learning curve with the main character. The winners of this years over 18's paid attention to detail, focussed on the individual character hence creating a universal theme of the desire to belong. A common theme in this years entries.
This year's winner of the Open Section is the story of an unlikely friendship between a couple of social outcasts and an old man of mystery. It has adventure, love and acceptance, and is a social history lesson. This book has all the elements of a great story, particularly for 11-13 year olds. It held my attention and caused me to ask "what happens next?" This story definitely has the "goose bump factor." Congratulations to the Six of Quills for their story entitled A Window Through Time.
A very close second is the Blue Stockings story, The Fiery Grove, with its talking pigs and the Rose that promises to save the world from total destruction.
Other highly commended stories are: Roll Up Roll Up by The Yart Class, for its imagination; Eco Warriors by Scribes, for the construction of plot and desire to change the world; and The Chocolate Deception by Writers Cramp, for appreciating the importance of chocolate.
As I read this year's entries in the young people's section I found myself in a menagerie of talking animals. I met every kind of creature from talking llamas and a dolphin in a shower cap to a penguin that danced in the rain. Actually, just about every animal that appeared in the stories could not only speak English, but was incredibly articulate, although I was at times concerned about their use of grammar. I did wonder at the number of talking parrots, and found myself fascinated with a space bird that repeated "Negative Houston" at the most appropriate times. There was even a werewolf who had to solve a sphinx-like riddle to rid himself of his nightmare, and snails that provided a cure for premature ageing. Oh, and if you want to find that special snail, you will firstly have to find a Snaileologist.
Sadly, orphans and their evil tormentors featured in several stories and there were crime tales and murders and CIA investigations, suggesting that our children are watching far too many forensic programs on television. The dominant theme was the need to belong and to be accepted.
All books, however, clearly demonstrated a lot of effort and I was impressed with the level of engagement of each of the groups. Not only have they managed to produce text and drawings, and in some cases, paintings, but many developed a plot, had sophisticated sub-plots, characters and story lines that would make Harry Potter look lazy. You should all be pleased with your achievements. You have proven at least two very important things, children still read and they still have imagination.
However, aside from imagination, a writer can have a great impact on a reader if that imagination has a very human story. One book, dealing with the universal struggle to survive and belong, captured my attention and held it to the very end. The book tells the story of an asylum seeker, stuck in a detention centre in Australia, who makes an unlikely friendship with an Aussie swagman. Neither can speak each other's language, but their desire to understand each other brings them together when she begins Drawing Lines in the Dirt to tell him her story. The illustrations were simple, but beautifully executed, although I confess to wanting more of them. The story was simply and poetically put. Congratulations to the winners of this years' young writer's section of the Book in a day competition, the Year 11 English Literature students from Applecross Senior High School.
The Highly Commended books are: The Penguin and the Poet by Riverside High School, for craft of writing, structure and spelling; Deceased and Domesticated by Applecross Senior High School, for structure and imagination; Seek Truth by The Telopea Park School, for execution of grammar; Negative Houston by the Carine Senior High School Brunette Babes, for making me want to belong to a crazy family in the outback; Three's a Crowd by Marian College Team 2, for making want to be a giraffe in Africa; and Oppression's End by the Carine Senior High School for its political courage.
I consider it an honour to have read and judged these stories and am grateful to be a part of the Book in a Day experience. Congratulations to all the entrants. You did a marvellous job just turning up. I'm not sure it is a challenge I could undertake.
Lynn Gumb is currently working towards a Master of Creative Arts at Curtin University of Technology. Her Masters project is a novel that challenges the myths of motherhood through the relationship between abandoning mothers and their daughters. Lynn has been an English and Theatre Arts teacher, policy maker, lawyer, speechwriter for Chief Justice David Malcolm, and more recently, Chairperson of the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre. Lynn prides herself on being an iconoclast and likes to create stories that have a sting in the tail.
Sitting at school for six hours a day is hard enough, let alone spending twice as much time creating an entire, complete and fully illustrated novel. Although twelve hours may seem like plenty of time to do the writing and draw the pictures, we understand that you're under a lot of pressure. For Primary school students to achieve the goal of an actual Book in a Day is remarkable. We would like to congratulate all the teams that competed and hope that while you wrote your stories, you had as much fun as we did.
Unfortunately, the time limits of the competition often mean that you overlook things like spelling, grammar and syntax. Make sure you leave adequate time for thorough editing so these sorts of errors can be prevented. These are the kind of things that should be remembered for next year. Also, while the use of large words can enhance your descriptive writing, ensure you understand the meaning of the word and the context in which it is being used. Without knowing these two things your readers may become confused and this will detract the flow of your story.
We'd like to congratulate you on the effective way each team incorporated the parameters. We sympathise with your difficulties, it was hard for us too. Despite this, we were impressed at the high standard of originality in the stories. Characters such as a homeless person, sherpa and skinhead would have been challenging to use in as a core basis around which to create a distinctively Australian story. Stories about hobos, purple wombats and sometimes spotless giraffes demonstrated not just the inclusion of parameters but also engaged and excited the reader.
It was great to see such a range of drawing styles bringing the characters in the stories to life. This really enhanced the whole experience of the story, and gave insight into the characters. The journeys these characters embarked upon were amazing, gripping, exciting and at times, thoughtful and quite insightful. It is important in a story, not just to have intense thrills and a captivating plotline, but also a moral. It was wonderful to see morals of such an inspiring nature throughout these stories. As a team Lake's Minions would like to thank Chris Oakeley and the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writer's Centre for allowing us not only the opportunity to compete in the High School section of the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day competition, but also for trusting us to judge the Primary School section. We are honoured to have been chosen.
There are two books which we would like to highly commend. Firstly, The Quest Of Rod McBaker by those from the Corrigin DHS Writer's Festival, which was packed full of action from the beginning to the end, plus a dash of romance. Secondly, there is the entrancing Midnight Wolf by the students from Fremantle PEAC. This book had a gorgeous front cover, and the illustrations throughout the book were amazing. The secrecy of the Wolf and the rebellious, adventurous heroine made this story a joy to read. Finally, the winner. A complex and mysterious tale about a strange jail, a brother, a sister and a curious science teacher, filled with suspense that kept you wondering until the very end. We would like to congratulate the Albany PEAC students, the writers of Dingo Creek.
The books were judged in two stages, firstly on the basis of the book's cover. Imagine you're walking through a bookshop, not looking for a specific author or title - a well-designed cover is the first thing to grab your attention and may lead you to buying the book.
Secondly on how well the illustrations emphasised the story, along with technique and design.
PRIMARY: Midnight Wolf by Fremantle Peel PEAC Team 1
SECONDARY: Oppression's End by Carine Senior High School Team 1
OPEN : Three books competed very closely for the open award: Bertie and the Beast by Martin Chambers Team which contains some exquisite pen and ink drawings. A Window Through Time by Six Quills - This book could have won if this award was judged only the book's cover, however The winner was The Fiery Grove by The Blue Stockings. Not only does this book have a striking cover, but the illustrations inside brought to life the myriad of fantastic characters that were in the story.
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© KSPF 2003
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