Cr Holstein launches writing competition

A writing competition for primary school children was launched last week at Woy Woy Library.

Cr Chris Holstein launched the competition for Gosford's Library Service which is acting as Central Coast coordinator of the national competition.

Prizes of $200,000 will be awarded nationally in the "Write Around Australia" competition.

They will include a collection of Australian books for the winning authors and a collection for their school libraries, backpacks full of Nestle productss and a computer and software package for the national winner.

Students in Years 5 and 6 can enter by writing a 500-word story and sending it in on or before the competition closing date May 16.

Last year the competition received over 35,000 entries from primary school children all over Australia.

Gosford Library Services Manager, Mr Alan Flores said "Nestle Write Around Australia" was a fantastic way to encourage children to write and think creatively.

"We're thrilled to be involved.

"We're hoping for a national winner from the Central Coast this year, so we'll be encouraging as many Year 5 and 6 primary school students as we can to put their creative thinking caps on."

As part of the competition, Gosford Library will be hosting published Australian children's author John Larkin for a week in July.

During that time, John Larkin will hold creative writing workshops with local primary school students to foster their writing skills.

This is also a chance for competition finalists to get advice from a professional to polish their stories before resubmitting them for the next round of judging.

Students can get entry forms from their school, local library, or they can enter online at www.writearound.com.au.

Here they will also find winning stories from previous years, and writing tips to help make their story one of this year's winners.

Gosford Library will be working closely with the State Library of NSW throughout the year to coordinate the entries from students all over the State.

According to Nestle, the competition was developed to encourage children to take part in creative writing and to utilise the resources of public libraries.

The program is coordinated by the State Library of New South Wales and supported by public libraries around Australia.

For more information, contact Sharon Drayton at Gosford Library on 4348 9906.

Press release, March 18