Wow, what an exciting month it’s been reading all the entries for the inaugural Northern Beaches Writers’ Competition!
As the 2022 Northern Beaches ‘Art & Words Project’, the competition invited writers to submit both a written entry of up to 2,500 words on the theme of ‘tree’, and an image that reflected and enhanced that entry. Tree – tree of life, family tree, trees, tree network, tree diagram, decision tree – entries could be non-fiction, fiction, or fiction inspired by true events, all genres and styles were welcome, and the writers of Australia did not disappoint!
I read entries about bushfires, bushwalks, tree houses, tree escapes, dryads, fairies, horticulturalists, mythical trees, enchanted trees, symbolic trees, cultural trees, and even a future without trees. There were environmental tales, trees with significance to family and relationships, stories about the Covid-19 pandemic, cancer and grief. The trees themselves varied – cherry trees, Christmas trees, coconut, fig, flame, gum, ironbark, jacaranda, mandarin, mulberry, palm, pepper, sequoia, and more. There were insightful non-fiction accounts of trees, stories told from the perspective of trees, as well as engaging settings beside lakes, swimming pools, Scotland Island, Jindabyne, rural Australia, and… a cemetery!
Since the competition was supported by both myself and the Northern Beaches Writers’ Group, each and every entry was read by a total of seven judges, reading completely blind – so for any entry to even make it onto the shortlist was a huge achievement. The creative standard was also extremely high, with entries from all over New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and Tasmania. I’m so very proud of the results.
Congratulations to everyone who entered, and of course the winners!
1st Place
‘Flame Tree’ by Lisa Cortez
2nd Place (Joint Winners)
‘Agonis Flexuosa’ by Rosanne Dingli
‘The Blood Tree’ by Jennifer Nash
Northern Beaches Commendation Award
‘It Won’t Come When You Call It’ by Caroline Sully
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my ever-patient husband and children for their continual encouragement of and interest in my endeavours advocating for inclusive creativity opportunities in my community. This competition took about 55 hours to arrange and judge, and I acknowledge and appreciate your support of that.
Thank you also to the amazing judges who joined me in this quest, for your time, reliability and impressive dedication!
- Azmeena Kelly
- Bronwen Bowman
- Kate Galloway
- Phil Burgin
- Rose Saltman
- Tara Ray
Please now click through to the competition results page to read the winning entries, as well as more about these fabulous judges.
Thank you, everyone!
