The winners of this year’s IEUA-QNT and ETAQ Literary Competition have been announced, with up and coming writers impressing the judges with their submissions of short stories, poetry and non-fiction prose.
Our union’s Literary Competition, now in its 61st year, demonstrated there is no shortage of talented wordsmiths in Queensland or the Northern Territory.
It remains the longest continuing literary competition for Queensland students and was established by our antecedent union to give young people an opportunity to enhance their literary development and encourage freedom of expression through writing.
More than 800 entries of poetry, short stories and non-fiction prose were submitted by writers of all ages, with this year’s judges stating how impressed they were by the content.
Video highlights
Judge comments
Anne Wood, who judged the Years 11-12 Non-fiction prose category, said it was a very difficult section to judge, as all students submitted excellent pieces and competition was fierce.
“The entries in this year’s non-fiction section of the IEUA-QNT Literary competition were creative, well-researched, and impressively written essays and articles that raised awareness on a variety of topical social concerns,” Anne said.
“They covered an important range of issues including; politics and ethics, human rights, racism, historical movements, sexism, media and technology, social prejudice, the place of poetry in society and dystopic influences on modern culture.
“With writing of this quality, the fate of writing in the public sphere is bright,” she said.
Trudie Murrell, who judged the Years 7-8 Poetry category said she enjoyed the wide variety of poetic styles and devices used by entrants.
“I enjoyed reading a mixture of free verse and rhyming poetry,” Trudie said.
“All entries displayed a good understanding of the form they were writing in, whether it was a ballad, an epic, a list poem, a lyrical poem, an elegy or an ode.
The younger entrants were especially promising, with Professor Beryl Exley, who judged the Years 5-6 Short story category praising the style and execution of short stories writing.
“As always, it’s a pleasure reading the short story submissions,” said Beryl.
“So many young writers in this section show much promise – one day, they will be writers of repute.
“I also noticed that some of the short-listed entries were pithier than usual.
“Good authors know when the job is done; verbosity is not required,” she said.
The annual presentation ceremony for award recipients has been cancelled due to COVID-19, although school Principals will be sent certificates and book prizes to present to winners on our union’s behalf.
Winners’ list
Click here to download a full list of Award recipients.
