Tag: #author

Showcasing Young Writers

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During my school visits and author talks, I’m regularly asked varying combinations of the following questions by encouraging teachers and parents: “We have a student/child who’s a talented and enthusiastic writer. How can we foster their love of creative writing and help them showcase their work? Where/how can they share their writing? What resources, competitions and/or writing courses are available which specifically cater for children?”

I hope the following resource sheet goes some way to answering these questions. The collation of it has been on my to-do list for some time, and contains information on children’s writing competitions and courses that I personally know of, as well as recommendations from generous author friends in the Kidlit Facebook Group ‘The Duckpond’. Please note, it has primarily been written for Victorian Primary School children, and is by no means exhaustive….but a good launching pad, in any case, for the many talented Primary School writers out there. Enjoy!

Parent & Teacher Resource for Primary School Student Writers VIC - Updated 27 Nov 2019

Creative Writing Awards – Shortlisted

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CWA_badge_SHORLIST-2018

Amongst all the excitement of being shortlisted in the Scribbles ‘Creative Writing Awards’ late 2018 – in both the Picture Book and Middle Grade Short Story categories – I forgot to blog about it!

This new creative writing competition for the Australian children’s literary calendar was established and run by acclaimed children’s author Jen Storer – under the banner of her online creative writing course, ‘Scribbles’ of which I’m an active participant.  The competition was also supported by Harper Collins Children’s Books.

The judges were none other than esteemed industry professionals Judith Rossell, Gabrielle Wang and Lucinda Gifford.  All shortlisters were provided with valuable feedback on their manuscripts, and the winners each received a full manuscript assessment with Jen, as well as a Skype coaching call.

It goes without saying that I was thrilled to be shortlisted in both categories! I’ve since reviewed my picture book manuscript and tweaked it slightly, in light of the judge’s considered feedback, and shall be hopefully presenting it to a publisher at this year’s KidLitVic Conference. As for the middle grade short story – well, I really enjoyed putting this idea to paper, and may even transfer it into a full novel in the future…watch this space 🙂

Oh yes, and Scribbles is not only an online community of kidlit creators, we have real-life workshops too. Here I am below enjoying a Masterclass with Jen and my fellow writers (and illustrators) in Melbourne last May, just prior to attending the KidLitVic 2018 Conference.

Scribbles Masterclass 2018
Scribbles Creative Writing Masterclass, Melbourne, 2018