As regular readers will know, I recently won the short story competition run by the Fellowship of Australian Writers Manly branch… three years in a row!
Three years in a row.
Three different judges.
Three separate wins of ‘first place’.
Hat trick!
I know! I couldn’t believe it either. Who does that?
Well, I guess I do! And on Saturday, I was at Warringah Mall Library reading aloud my winning story. Here are some photos of the event:
And the winner is… President Jean Allas and ex-president Beatrice Yell announce the results.
…yay! It’s me!
Listening to the judge’s comments before reading aloud my winning short story.
Judge’s comments: “A beautifully written, poignant narrative, involving a sick child and a mother’s unbearable angst.”
I was very nervous, as I always am when reading aloud my writing to groups of people. But I know it’s good practice for when I’m, you know, a famous novelist! (Come on, publishers! What are you waiting for?! He he!)
Although, the way some fans were congratulating me afterwards, it kinda felt as if I was already famous! Such is the soulful warmth fans can provide. Thank you, fans!
Me with my certificate – 1st place!
The Manly Daily, our awesome local newspaper with an incredible readership of over 150,000 people, is about to write a little piece about my win. How exciting is that?!! They may even publish an extract from my debut novel (you know, the one I’m trying to get published right now). So watch out for that later this week…
I’ll also be sharing some of my tips and tricks on writing award-winning fiction at this year’s Emerging Writer’s Festival. So for anyone in Sydney on Saturday 3rd November – why not come along to the NSW Writers’ Centre and join in the fun?
The Emerging Writers’ Festival will be held on Saturday 3rd November. Don’t miss it!
There’s a pre-festival interview with me, where I talk about discipline, distance and the dangers of being a copycat, here. Follow the links to find details about the festival and how to purchase tickets. It’s going to be a fantastic day full of panels and discussions about writing, writers and literary life. I’ll be running one of the four creative writing bootcamps, between 3.10pm – 4pm.
Don’t miss out!
If you can’t make it, why not follow the festival conversation on Twitter? Just use the hashtag: #EWFSYD
In the meantime, I’m off to add my first place certificate with the other certificates I’ve been collecting of late… so pretty!
Beautiful encouragement.
Nice effort – well done.
Thanks, Bruce!! 🙂
Congratulations, well done, it must be a fabulous feeling to win three times in a row
It is! Competitions aren’t easy to win. I’d been sending stories out for years before I started getting anywhere. Now that I am, it doesn’t feel real!
Lovely pics, Zena, and a very well-deserved hattrick – congratulations again!
Thanks Liz! And, to top it all, I was in the Manly Daily this morning… on page 3!
I’ll blog about it now 🙂