Young writers from across the Northern Beaches have done it again with so many incredible stories crowned winners in our 2021 Young Writers Competition.

Now in its twelfth year, our finalists and their families watched safely from home as the proceedings were held through Zoom.

The 2021 theme was ‘spark’ and after the events of the previous 12 months, we received many diverse and creative interpretations of the theme. Stories transported us to indigenous sacred grounds and nineteenth century wash houses, from a Second World War field hospital to a dystopian nation where a child’s imagination is banned. Our finalists take on the theme knew no creative bounds.

The measure of talent doesn’t stop there. Seven of our finalists have been crowned finalists previously, a true testament to their writing abilities as each story has been read by different judges. This year also saw the appearance of siblings who achieved a highly commended and runner up award.

We spoke to one of our incredible winners, eight year old Byron Clark in the Kindergarten to Year 2 category about his winning story Spark of life.

We firstly wanted to congratulate you Byron on such a beautiful story. How does it feel to have won your category?

Thank you. I feel very excited! This is the first writing competition I have ever entered so I wasn't expecting to win. I'm so glad that I did!

Your story is about a spark of lightning that triggers a bushfire that a family of animals are stuck in the middle of. What gave you the idea for your story?

The bushfires we had last year made me feel very sad because all the animals were losing their homes, so I decided to write a book about it. I hoped that people might read it and take better care of the planet so that animals, like the koalas, don't become extinct.

Your judge, Yvette Poshoglian, said one of her favourite phrases was "The grass and the trees were as dry as a stale biscuit". Is this also one of your favourite phrases?

Yes. I also like the line about 'the kangaroos darting through the flames' because it describes how scared they were and how quickly they wanted to get out of the forest.

Do you like writing stories and do you think you will write more?

Yes, because I like other people being able to read my writing and see inside my imagination. It also feels great to get published!

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.