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2008 SHORT STORY AWARDS.The story opening that our young writers were given to work with this year was "I know I left it somewhere ....." Bookrapt's Short Story Competition wins PANPA Award.
YEARS 5 & 6Judge: Award winners:
An Unexpected Adventure by Olivia Crombie, St Mary’s School
Highly commended:
Lost and Found by Hannah Compton, Omanu Primary School Judge's comments: This year was the first year I have judged the Short Story Awards and I must say I thoroughly enjoy reading these works of fiction. The stories’ were all imaginative and creative. I had a difficult time trying to pick the 4 award winners as there were such a good number of stories that could have been in the top four. But in the end, these four award winners stood out for me. All these stories were well constructed and flowed from beginning to end. The stories had me hooked from the first paragraph and keep my interest until their conclusion. The characters were well developed, descriptive and interesting. I had a number of short stories that were written in the popular and wonderful genre of Fantasy. When we have read an amazing fantasy novel, we need to be careful not to bring the characters and idea from stories too much into our own work to avoid using the ideas of others. I know this is very hard to do when we have been touched by what we have previously read. An Unexpected Adventure by Olivia Crombie: A well paced tale told of a group of friends at camp and through a series of events getting lost. I enjoyed the descriptive writing and could feel myself getting cold while reading it. The Missing Tooth by Alexandra Dawick: A quirky story about of the loss of a tooth. This story was a well written and quick paced, and had a wonderful sense of how people feel when they are in a panic. And this was topped off with a happy ending as Alex finds her tooth. I Know I Left It Somewhere by Kate Hollinshead: A beautifully written romance told with a sense of humor. I really enjoyed this tale of woe and a great funny ending too. Well done. Trouble at East Park School by Stella Dobbs: A delightfully told mystery of a kidnapping at East Park School. Well written with a good build up of tension and clever use of character description. My congrats to all the entries, and especially to all the winners and highly commended writers.
Judge: Award winners:
Highly commended: Judge's comments: The award winning writers had planned their stories well. They focused on their main idea and characters, then developed the plot to a good conclusion. I was pleased to see the use of dialogue that moved the stories forward and enhanced interaction between characters. Fantasy was a feature of some stories, although this needs to be carefully controlled for short stories. It was evident that some writers had too many ideas and characters to be contained within the limited scope of a short story – some will undoubtedly develop into novels! Discovery on Black Stump Farm by Rebecca Black. An excellent story centred on a familiar environment. The sense of adventure and discovery unfolds with growing excitement as the true value of the girls’ find is revealed. Well written. A Hearty Tale by Beth Taylor. A tall tale told with just the right amount of gory detail. The writer held the tension well with the urgency of passing time hyping up the anxiety levels. The laugh-out-loud ending was superb. I Know I Left it Somewhere by Renae White. A well-paced story with realistic detail and dialogue. Good plot development as the pleasure of achievement turned to worry and despair. Nice twist at the end. Mountain Attack by Claudia Aroa. An ambitious fantasy tale with good characterisation and originality. The battle scene was well-focused and descriptive. The additional character of ‘Faithful’ added light relief to the intense drama. Congratulations to all the award winners and highly commended writers. |
