Young stars rising

All winning stories have been published in an eBook entitled Rise, which you can access here. 

Young writers from across the Northern Beaches have risen to the occasion with so many outstanding stories crowned winners in our 2022 Young Writers' Competition.

Now in its thirteenth year, our finalists attended a presentation evening where they were presented with their awards by Mayor Michael Regan and enjoyed dinner and discussion with their celebrity judge authors.

The 2022 theme was ‘rise’ and after the events of the past couple of years, we received many diverse and creative interpretations of the theme. Stories transported us through time and space finding inspiration in nature, the beauty and darkness of humanity and the importance of facing your fears and rising to challenges. From a crime fighting owl, secret agents, zombies, backyard jacarandas and the life of an atom, our finalists took on the theme and created journeys across vast worlds.

Our rising talents don't stop there. Ten of our finalists have been crowned finalists previously, a true testament to their writing abilities as each story has been read anonymously and by different judges. This year also saw the appearance of siblings who achieved a highly commended and winner award.

Some advice to students entering the competition next year: “If you write a story, make it come from your heart and be confident in yourself” – Ashley Smith, Runner Up, Grade 2.

How to get in the writing zone? “I like to visualise the characters and name them and imagine what they are like” -  Rommi Cleaves, Runner Up, Grade 11.

And as for what makes a good story? "Something that is engaging and has something important to say. Anything can be a good story, it depends on how you tell it.” – Lillian Hamilton, Winner, Grade 9.

Congratulations again to our next generation of storytellers.

You can see the full list of our finalists and borrow an eBook of their stories on the Library's website.