The winners of Rodney Libraries annual writing awards were recently announced at a ceremony at Whangaparaoa Library.
For the fourth consecutive year Rodney Libraries have invited writers to put pen to paper and submit their works to the ‘Rodney Writes’ competition.
Writers in previous competitions have been asked to submit entries on a particular theme – such as ‘Kiwi Culture’ of ‘Going Global.’ In 2010 entrants were able to write on any topic that interested them.
145 entries were submitted to ‘Rodney Writes’ in 2010.
At a ceremony at Whangaparaoa Library the following awards were presented to the award winners:
Premier Award
Entry for this award was open to anyone who has had their work published or broadcast for payment.
Novice Award
This category was open for writers who were aged 18 and over but haven’t had works published or broadcast for payment previously
Young Writers Award
This award was open to writers under 18 years of age.
Each category had a word limit of 2,500.
Wellington writer Wes Lee took out the Premier Award (of $1,000) for her story 'Advent'. Wes has previously lectured in Fine Arts at AUT and began writing short stories in 2005. She has won over 30 awards, both within New Zealand and Internationally. Last year she won the Dan Davin Literary Award 2009, which was judged by Owen Marshall and in 2010 she was shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize in England.
Her story, 'Advent,' is a dark tale of an elderly woman caring for her husband with Alzheimer’s who watches with cool detachment as she plays Russian roulette with his health by placing random pills in an Advent Calendar and doling them out to him.
Brenda Howson, of Snells Beach was the winner of the Novice Award category (valued at $500). Brenda was born in Rodney and lives with her husband and son overlooking the waters of Kawau Island. She is a computer technician and mother and spends her spare time thinking up stories and writing for pleasure.
Her story 'Missing in Action' was told from the point of view of a fifteen year old girl who goes on holiday with her family to the beach. A seemingly inconsequential decision on her part results in a tragic outcome.
Fourteen year old Alice Allfree from Greenhithe was awarded the Young Writers Award (of $500) for her story, 'The Legend of the Curtain Warriors.' Alice’s tale drew on classical Greek mythology with a modern twist.
Tom Vasey of Mahurangi College was placed second in the Young Writers category for his story, 'The Fate of the Soulbinder.' Tom lives in Warkworth and enjoys writing and reading fantasy fiction. He received a prize of $200.
Speaking at the Rodney Writes ceremony, Mayor Penny Webster congratulated the award winners and spoke about how important good writing was in helping children develop a life long love of reading.