The 18 winners of the 2024 Fresh Words Competition were announced on Wednesday 19 June, where young writers from across Casey were joined by their families, teachers, principals and teaching staff to celebrate their achievements.
The competition is open to students from Grade 5 to Year 12 in the municipality, where they are able to submit entries across three categories of creative writing, poetry and lyrics, and English as an Additional Language (EAL).
Casey’s chair of administrators Noelene Duff PSM said that the Fresh Words competition aims to enhance the self-esteem of young people by recognising their creativity.
“The competition also gives young people the opportunity to develop their writing skills and showcase their creativity.
“This year’s Fresh Words competition saw a surge in participation, with an impressive 190 entries across the Creative Writing and Poetry and Lyrics categories,” she said.
Awards were based on year levels and can be found below.
Creative Writing Category:
Grade 5-6, First Place: Georgie Jones Pieterson with The Piebald Pony (Beaconhills College Pakenham).
Merit Award: Ethan Manning with Block-E (Kilberry Valley Primary School).
Encouragement Award: Manasvi Prakash with The Hot Food Family (Oatlands Primary School).
Year 7-9 First Place: Methuki Bogahapitiya with Time to Read a New Book (Nossal High School).
Merit Award: Yusuf Md Alauddin with The Serenity Glade (Alkira Secondary College).
Encouragement Award: Bobby Bhatia with The Daring Drop Down (Nossal High School).
Year 10-12 First Place: Lale Peri Yildirim with The Apogee (Alkira Secondary College).
Merit Award: Tashi Mallawa with The Glittering City (Nossal High School).
Encouragement Award: Khushi Thakar with Dolls (Narre Warren South P-12 College).
Poetry/Lyrics Category:
Grade 5-6 First Place: Isabelle with A Thousand (St Margaret Berwick Grammar).
Merit Award: Elbert Yuze Ma with The Beast of the Sea (St Margaret Berwick Grammar).
Encouragement Award: Evelyne Ong with Lying (Homeschool).
Year 7-9 First Place: Amna Bilal with Mother Bird (Nossal High School).
Merit Award: Almira Hafiz with We are all Unique (Clyde Secondary College).
Encouragement Award: Bobby Bhatia with For in Dadi’s (Grandma’s) Kitchen, (Nossal High School).
Year 10-12: Megan Phoon with Please Remember (Nossal High School).
Merit Award: Anvi Sharma with A Consumer of the Past (John Monash Science School).
Encouragement Award: Luke Mu with The Dreaded Fields of Red (St Peter’s College Cranbourne).
Congratulating the winners and thanking the students for entering the competition, Ms Duff added that she “would also like to thanks the distinguished panel of six judges”.
“[All] who are highly regarded experts in poetry, spoken word and creative writing, for meticulously shortlisting and judging the entries.
“The judging panel were incredibly impressed by the creative talent on display,” she said.
The award ceremony also had a number of special guests and was hosted by poet and FReeZA committee member Senuli Wikramasinghe.
Award-winning spoken word artist, literary judge and educator Ren Allesandra also delivered a speech to the audience, with an additional performance by indie and folk-pop singer Zak Gully to top the night off.
