Young Writers' Day

UWS Young Writers’ Day 2012

 

On 12 October more than 140 year 10 and 11 students from 17 Greater Western Sydney high schools took part in the UWS Young Writers’ Day, hosted by Macarthur Anglican College at Cobbitty. The day began with a keynote presentation by Dr Matthew McGuire, author of the novel Dark Dawn and lecturer at the UWS School of Humanities and Communication, followed by a choice of eleven different workshops. Each student participated in two workshops, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. These were run by academics and authors including Barbara Alysen, Jesse Blackadder, Bernard Cohen, Jan Cornall, Jen Craig, Tom Lee, Emily Maguire, Kate Middleton, Dr Rachel Morley, Vivienne Stanton and Catherine Therese . Jane Sherlock ran a parallel workshop for teachers on 'Enriching the Writing Process'.

The event aimed to raise the profile of writing, recognise the talent of local students, and give students the opportunity to meet and learn from established authors in the company of like-minded peers.

Participants said

They learnt:

  • How to structure a persuasive argument
  • How to begin the writing process and how to revise one's work overtime
  • Writing doesn't have to be perfect.  Know your strengths and just write
  • Persuading people isn't all about giving your arguments, it is also about countering others!
  • One sentence can be the start of a new story
  • That writing is based on experience and knowledge and sources of inspriation around us
  • The importance of the drafting stages in writing a poem as well as being to write a persuasive text using reason, emotion and credibility
  • To use the power of language to animate gestures, dialogue, setting and your writing in general
  • Valuable writing skills that will be definitely incorporated

 They enjoyed: 

  • The experiments in writing
  • Getting feedback and ideas from other students
  • The opportunity to start writing a work/s of fiction on the spot
  • Gaining knowledge from experienced writers
  • The connections each presenter had with real life and their writing
  • Learning and listening to the way the presenters talked about poetry/persuasive writing in their work and how I can apply it to school
  • The general atmosphere of the day 

For more information see the media release: Budding young writers meet published authors at UWS

Young Writers’ Day Competition

Each participant had the opportunity to win prizes by submitting a piece of their own work to a special UWS Young Writers' Day competition. The entries were 'blind' judged by a UWS-appointed panel. 

Five winning entries were selected and five entries highly commended. Each winner will receive a conditional scholarship offer for undergraduate study at UWS; $5000 per annum for up to four years.  Winners also receive a Google Lexus 7 32GB tablet.  Highly commended entrants receive a $40 book voucher.

Congratulations to the following winning and highly commended entries in the 2012 competition:

  • Renae Adolfson, John Therry Catholic High School - Untitled Winner
  • Jennifer Celeban, Caroline Chisholm College - 'The Well-Loved Tree' Highly commended
  • Abby Davis, Penrith Anglican College - 'Misunderstood' Highly commended
  • Raeshaan Goh, John Therry Catholic High School - 'Back to my Roots' Highly commended
  • Giselle Loo, Mount Carmel High School - 'The Woman with the Red Cross' Winner
  • Connor McGlynn, John Therry Catholic High School - 'Top of the World' Highly commended 
  • Stephanie Penales, Mt Carmel Catholic High School - 'For Him' Winner
  • Elizabeth Read, Hurlstone Agricultural High School - Poem cyle Winner
  • Cassandra Sebesten, Elizabeth Macarthur High School - 'Envision' Winner
  • Meghan Warda, Caroline Chisholm College - 'Waiting' Highly commended