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Jesse Blackadder
Young writer awards: The winners This year, Byron Writers Festival hosted two writing competitions, The Susie Warrick Young Writers Award and The Jesse Blackadder Prize. These competitions celebrate the art of the short story, encouraging aspiring young writers in years 5-12 who reside within the Byron Writers Festival footprint to pursue and explore their talents. Students were asked to write a short story on any theme from 500 to 1000 words, depending on the age category. Overall, we received over 130 submissions and were taken aback by the creativity, originality and talent of the young writers in our region. Judging was difficult with many competitive submissions. Those who submitted deserve to be very proud of themselves! It is with great pleasure that we share the first-place stories with you on the following pages. Runner-up stories can be found at the Byron Writers Festival blog.
14 | SUMMER 2022 northerly
Susie Warrick Young Writers Award Susie Warrick was a much-loved staff member at the Northern Rivers Writers Centre (now Byron Writers Festival). This award celebrates the art of the short story and supports emerging young writers in furthering their career with a $500 cash prize for first place per category. Prize Category 1 (year 10-12) First place: ‘Nipotino’ by Luisa Santucci Runner up: ‘I Do Not Know Which to Prefer’ by Saoirse Chu Prize Category 2 (year 7-9) First place: ‘The Hunter’ by Floyd Whitaker Runner-up: ‘The Alley’ by Elise Nikkinen
