The Festival of Young Writers 2022
The announcement of winners and the launch of the book of the third biennial Braidwood Lions Festival of Young Writers took place on Friday18 November 2022 at the National Theatre. There was a fantastic turnout with the Theatre full of eager students, parents, grandparents and sponsors.
Not only were there the awards and introductions by Nicole Overall MP, NSW Member for Monaro who launched the Book containing stories judged to be the best in each category and a presentation by Kenrick Winchester, QPRC Mayor, but the audience were treated to some wonderful singing by three members of the Braidwood Youth Performing Arts Group. Proceedings ended of course with a Lions sausage sizzle.
Braidwood Lions Club members are delighted about how enthusiastically local school children embraced our initiative. A total of 240 entries were received – an outstanding result given the difficult schooling environment this year.
Braidwood Lions is very grateful to the enthusiastic patron of the Festival, Jackie French, and the renowned authors who were the judges - Robyn Goodwin (K-2 Category), Cate Whittle (3-4), Harry Laing (5-6), Andrew Dado (7-8), Julian Davies (9-10) and Roger McDonald (11-12) - who so kindly donated their time to judge all entries and identify those showing the most promise. The judges operated independently and were not aware of the names or school background of the entrants during their deliberations.
Congratulations to all Award winners for 2022
Braidwood Lions is extremely appreciative to all the 91 sponsors, most of whom were local businesses, who supported the Festival and gave so generously. Particular mention needs to be made about the ongoing support provided by our underwriting sponsor the Braidwood Community Bank, the NSW Government and QPRC. Any surplus funds raised from the Festival will be invested in the youth locally.
A special vote of thanks goes to teaching staff from the schools and those involved in home schooling. Despite their heavy workloads these busy people have found time and energy to encourage participation in the Festival.
Finally, congratulations to all the children from our Braidwood community who participated and provided us all with inspiration and such a great array of interesting reading material. Braidwood Lions Club members now look forward to seeing you all become involved again in our next Young Writers Festival in 2024!
The Books are a great read and available to purchase at the Braidwood Community Bank, the Braidwood Post Office and the Braidwood Visitors Information Centre at a cost of just $15.
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Watch this beautiful and very poignant video produced as part of the 2020 Young Writers Festival.
more information
Braidwood Lions Secretary - 0408 465 008
