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"To bring to completion the construction of a centre for the performing and visual arts, to meet the current and future needs of the Batemans Bay Community"
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PerfEx Inaugural Literary Award
On Saturday 20th November, a hot and blustery day, the winners of our short story competition themed ‘Seaside’ were announced, to coincide very fittingly with Bateman’s Bay’s ‘Seaside Carnivale’. Just after the emergence from the sea of the gorgeous mermaid, accompanied by the suitably handsome, Captain Jack Sparrow and ‘sea weedy’ King Neptune, the creators of their own fictional characters were lined up nervously awaiting the results. (The odd mermaid featured in these too!)
PerfEx was very happy to receive 43 very diverse and imaginative, well-written entries from the ABC Radio South East listening area. Initially read by local judges and authors Judy Thomson and John Maneschi, the top ten selected stories were then sent to deciding judge, Anna Valdinger, Harper Collins Commissioning Fiction Editor. Anna generously wrote a short critique of each, but her general comment was, “Overall I thought the standard was pretty high. There was a great variety of imagination within the seaside topic and some really fantastic imagery”.
Judges John Maneschi and Judy Thomson being handed thank you vouchers by sponsor Lyn Brown
Having Anna involved, was a tremendous coup for PerfEx and a great incentive for the entrants, as it is normally almost impossible to have ones work viewed by a publisher!
There were to have been only 5 prizes, but generous sponsor Lyn Brown of Brown Books & ABC Centre Batemans Bay, decided there should be no ‘losers’, so donated five extra $25 Consolation Prizes.
Our congratulations and grateful thanks to all those writers and would be writers who entered our competition and we are pleased to announce the winners as follows:
The first five in order are (click the titles to read the full PDFs) :
First Prize of the $500 Brown Books & ABC Centre Book vouchers
Robin Trinca of Narooma for her story
'The Last Boat'
Robin says, "I have been writing for enjoyment for the last few years. I belonged to the Moruya Fellowship of Australian writers for a time, and contributed to their recent anthology "Where the Pelicans Fly". I have been occasionally published in newspapers and once won a short story prize!
Jeannie Brewer, Lyn Brown of Brown Books and 1st Prize Winner Robin Trinca
Second Prize of the $100 Brown Books and ABC Centre vouchers
Kyla Metcalf of Congo for her story
‘Visiting Tom’
Kyla has published several short stories. Currently she co-ordinates creative writing programs for women and children who have experienced trauma.
Third Prize of the $75 Brown Books and ABC Centre vouchers
Erica Woolgar of Lilli Pilli for her story
‘The Sea... The Sea...’
Erica has had short stories and poetry published in various journals. She has won numerous awards, including the Marhorie Barnard Award, the Katherine Susannah Prichard Award and was commended in the 2009 Josephine Ulrich Award.
Fourth Prize of the $50 PerfEx Encouragement Award
Judith Turner of South Durras for her story
‘To the Sea’
Judith says “I started writing three years ago after commencing a local U3A Writing Course. My aim at the time was to record my mother’s stories before she died. However, it has evolved since then into both non-fiction and fiction.
Fifth Prize of the Harper Collins ABC Books’ Package Encouragement Award
Kaiya Skywomyn of Bega for her story
‘Turtle Child’
Kaiya has been writing poetry, plays, songwriting, short stories and children’s stories for the past 40 years. She has self-published some of her works and has recorded three of her stories and poetry with the original music scores.
Consolation Award Winners x 5 (in no particular order)
Penny Gerner of Batemans Bay for her story
‘Beyond the Reef’
Penny is a published author of two books for young adults and an enthusiastic member of the Eurobodalla Writers Group. A relative newcomer to the area, she enjoys the friendly lifestyle and people. Penny enjoys reading, painting and music.
Nick Summers of Tuross Head for his story
‘The Birdthing’
Nick has been writing short stories for 40 years and has published one collection of stories, with several published in newspapers and magazines. He also writes and edits a large variety of community and private publications and journals.
Tara Allen of Mossy Point for her story
‘Sue Fray from Batemans Bay’
Tara is just beginning her writing career and aims towards humour.
Brian McLoughlin of Lilli Pill for this story
‘Return to the Bay’
Brian spent many years sharing a love of poetry and literature as a school teacher and school principal. Now he is enjoying the freedom which retirement brings, to indulge his interest and to take on a variety of writing projects.
Bernadette Davis of Tomakin for her story
‘The Toilet Block Crew’
Bernadette says “I write for the sheer pleasure of it. My characters are a blend of the many people I meet and their stories are a mix of my experiences and also my dreams”.
A huge thank you to all our sponsors without which this event could not have happened, with special thanks to Lyn Brown of Brown Books & ABC Centre for her generosity, support and ideas; to Ian Campbell and ABC Radio South East for his enthusiasm and involvement; the Village Centre; Bridge Plaza Management’; Local Government Super; The Eurobodalla Shire Council and Print Central, Batemans Bay.
Professional storyteller, Anna Jarrett of Batemans Bay has recorded the first five prizewinning stories at the ABC studio in Bega and these are being aired on local ABC Radio from Tuesday 3rd January to Saturday 7th January at 6.20am. An earlier than usual morning cuppa is recommended for that week!
Overall, we consider our Inaugural Literary Award a great success and intend making it an annual event, well-supported by the ABC South East and Brown Books and ABC Centre.