Kids News 2022 Short Story Competition Winners Announced

Some stories contained important moral lessons, while others contained environmental messages, and many were great fun to read.

Renowned children’s author and competition judge Jackie French praised the young authors for their originality and skill.

“Reading these articles is always a highlight, and this year was no exception,” said French. , has an amazing ability to bring original ideas to life in short stories.”

Kamal Cogdon, editor of Kids News, said there were many heartwarming stories.

“Many of these stories put a big smile on my face. We all need stories like this after such a difficult few years with COVID-19.” she said.

This year’s winners were selected from over 1000 entries in a national competition run by Kids News (News Corp Australia’s classroom news website) and publisher HarperCollins.

Georgie Bozhoff, a 7-year-old lunar observer who attends Augusta State School near Ipswich, Queensland, wrote her story, “The Wonderful World,” featuring a cheese-making cow feeding a very hungry monster. He declared that he was “very excited” to win the K-2 category for Cheese Moon.

“They are monsters with cheese claws and want to see what cows have made for them,” Georgie said.

Grade 2 students have written “thousands” of stories, but have never entered a competition before.

Margaret Wilde and Andy Griffith fan Georgie wrote in her bedroom:

In addition to recording voice messages and making sticky notes so you don’t lose ideas, another key tip from Georgie is to write something “fun and really interesting for your readers.”

Car enthusiast Tom Williams, 10, won Years 3-4 for The Magic Mustang, a story about a toy car that transforms into life-sized wheels during a full moon.

“I love cars, especially Mustangs,” said a fourth grader at Williamstown North Elementary School in Victoria.

“I love the shape of the Mustang, the different colors and how old it is.”

Tom’s secret to success is writing about things that interest him, whether it’s cars, sports, or the beach.

“I always have a story plan before I start to make sure there is a beginning, middle and end,” he added.

Boris Eroshenko, the 5th and 6th grade winner, wanted to give his readers a message for his winning work, The Swamp King.

“In my story, I want to say that it’s easier to be kind, and that being mean doesn’t really do any good,” said 12-year-old Boris.

A 6th grade student at Wattleview Primary School in Victoria says her grandmother’s story of rowing a small cardboard boat through puddles as a child inspired her to write a puddle story about wanting to be famous. Told.

“I thought, what if not only were the kids playing in the puddles, but the puddles were playing with them,” he said.

Before writing Home, the story of a World War II friendship between a Jewish girl and a member of the Hitler Youth, prolific author Matilda Burns, 12, said, “It doesn’t look right.” It seemed to me that I wrote three other stories. 9 crowns.

“I wanted loss and heartbreak and finally forgiveness and redemption,” said a 7th grade student in the Gympie area of ​​Queensland, where Colleen Mama is homeschooling.

She’s been writing non-stop since she was three years old and aspires to become a writer, but she adheres to the old adage that writers are readers first.

“I did a lot of research myself,” she said. “I read a lot of books in different genres, by different authors…and wanted to know more about the Holocaust.”

Read all winning stories, including runners-up and highly rated entries in each category here.

first published as 2022 Kids News Short Story Competition Winners Announced