HINTERLAND TIMES - Young Writer of the Year

We have a winner! Well, many really, as everyone who entered is a winner in our books!

The response to our subject matter ‘Connection’ brought in a wealth of original, entertaining, and often moving stories, making it extremely hard to reduce it to only ten finalists. As usual, there were literally one or two votes between those in the top ten.

The winner, runners-up and the Editor’s Encouragement stories are in this issue, pages 4-7, and we hope to publish some of the ‘Highly Commended’ stories if/when we have space over coming editions, as they deserve to be appreciated too.

A huge congratulations to our 2024 winner, Brooke Wild, whose story moved all of the judges and even made one cry. Brooke has lived on a cattle station, so her story is even more poignant, having seen what the harsh Australian weather can do to the land and those who live, love and work on it.

Thanks to all the schools who encouraged their students to enter: Maleny State High School, Maleny State School, Montville State School, Burnside State School, Glasshouse Christian College, Nambour Christian College, Palmwoods State School, Suncoast Christian College and Beerwah State School, plus the many homeschoolers who entered.

And finally, a big thank you to ALL the writers who entered this year, who put themselves out there, and sent us so many unique and interesting stories. We enjoyed reading every single one of them.

Winner

Tied to the Land by Brooke Wild

Runners Up

Chasing Kites by Sarah Schwabe

Sanctuary of Shadows by Grayson Gardiner

Editor’s Encouragement Award

Rainbow Connection by Riley Wilson

Highly Commended

The Night of the Reunion by Mikayla Smith

Lovely Red and Granny by Auraillia Von Dayme

In Light of it All by Amelia Hughes

Connected by Freya Muldoon

The Man-Eating Flower of Ashkaal by Azulie Von Dayme

Survivor’s Spirit by Joey Erskine-Shaw

A huge thank you to our prize sponsors: Rosetta Books, Maleny; The Falls Montville; Maleny Blackall Range Lions Club; Forest Heart Nursery; The Little Book Nook, Palmwoods, and a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous.