The Living Stories Western Sydney Writing Prize is a creative writing competition for residents of Western Sydney and the Wingecarribee Shire. This area is home to over 2.5 million Australians originating from 180 countries, speaking almost 100 different languages and residing in 14 local government areas. This year the prompt for this Western Sydney story and poetry prize was Things Unsaid.
In Terms 1 and 2, a range of students entered the competition, drawing inspiration, concepts and language features from their study of creative writing in English. Students wrote about a range of scenarios where stories, ideas and messages have often been hidden ‘beneath the surface’, using their creativity to ensure their compositions were imaginative and engaging.
We would like to congratulate the following students on their achievements in the competition:
- Kathryn Rendulic (Story) - Winner 13-15 for Parramatta and Overall Winner 13-15 for Western Sydney
- Alisha Katafono (Poetry) - Winner 10-12 for Cumberland
- Dana Aani (Poetry) – Winner 16-18 for Blacktown
- Cassandra Sastrillo (Poetry) – Highly Commended 16-18 for Blacktown
- Ella McGirr (Poetry) – Winner 16-18 for Parramatta
- Gemma Saap (Poetry) – Highly Commended 16-18 for Parramatta
- Preethi Raju (Story) – Winner 16-18 for Parramatta and Overall Winner 16-18 for Western Sydney.
- Valentine Giglio (Story) – Winner 16-18 for Fairfield
- Vidushi Trivedi (Poetry) – Winner 16-18 for The Hills
- Sophia Tapley (Story) – Highly Commended 16-18 for The Hills
- Chantelle Garingo (Poetry) – Winner 16-18 for Cumberland
- Michaela Magee (Story) – Winner 16-18 for Cumberland
An abridged excerpt from Chantelle Garingo’s poem, ‘Director’
Action!
Every day is a movie, a scene, a line -
The same chain of events begin and end and begin and end again,
Like a CD in a DVD player jammed in its own never-ending ‘play.’
From the moment I open my eyes in the morning,
To the moment they force themselves shut in the night,
I pretend.
I pretend to be who my father wants me to be,
The bright shining moon that orbits his Earth,
The mathematician, the engineer, the lawyer,
The daughter who closes her mouth.
I pretend to be who my mother wants me to be
The lighthouse that leads the sailors home,
The giver the teacher, the lover,
The daughter who doesn’t question her father’s control.
Cut! Quit messing up! Do it again!
Those words burn like embers infiltrating my skin,
A fire I couldn’t possibly put out now.
For an actress must lock away her own life
To perfectly embody the character she aims to play.
The director is an overbearing shadow
That follows me home with its head hung low.
They’re like an eternal eclipse
Gradually eating me alive,
Until my scorching hot rays of sun
Fade.
To.
Black.
It wasn’t until the premiere of my own movie,
In the violent silence of an empty cinema,
That I noticed an anomaly in the end credits that rolled.
My name was credited twice.
It was then that I realised the director was not in fact my father or my mother,
Nor my friends, peers or teachers.
It was always,
Always me that yelled, ‘Action!’
Judges’ Comments:
There is an urgency and clarity to the voice of the poet that speaks directly, leaping off the page. This is great, with a surprising ending, as well as lovely original images and phrases.