NSW Youngest creatives go for gold in writing competition

The competition, now in its 15^th year, is run by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), with teachers able to incorporate the competition into their teaching programs to develop student writing.

Students submit their entries to teachers, who pick just one winner from each Stage and submit to NESA for selection.

The calibre of the works submitted made the task of selecting 54 works challenging for the judges and reflects a robust new English Curriculum and renewed focus on writing for specific purposes across the curriculum.

For the first time, in 2024, NESA also provided schools with teaching and learning advice aligned to the curriculum to support teachers engaging in the writing competition with their students in classrooms.

Judges said the stimulus image gave students more opportunities to explore their creativity through a diverse range of styles, themes and concepts. The Art Gallery of NSW provided the stimulus; ‘The railway station, Redfern 1893’ by Arthur Streeton.

The annual WriteOn competition gives students the chance to become published authors and develop skills in writing to express their ideas.

Six students from each of Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2), Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4), and Stage 3 (Years 5 & 6) were chosen to receive WriteOn’s highest ‘Gold’ award.   

For primary school students, the WriteOn awards recognise students' ability to write clearly and creatively, to engage the reader in imaginative, interpretive, emotive or creative ways, fostering a passion for written expression.

Students were presented with a certificate from NESA and their stories will be published in hardcopy and as an e-book in The Best of WriteOn 2024, available for purchase via the NESA website.

Deputy Premier, Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car said:

“WriteOn is a fantastic way to showcase the wonderful writing skills of our youngest learners – and to celebrate our teachers who are imparting such fundamental skills in writing.”

“The work of these students reflects their imaginations and ability to articulate what it is they are thinking about.

“Writing is an essential tool that all of us need to communicate what we know and how we think – as appropriate for different contexts and audiences.

“Congratulations to all of the students who were awarded today and thank you to all the NSW primary students who participated in the competition.

“Thank you of course to the NSW teachers implementing writing across the new curriculum and who facilitated the WriteOn competition in their classes.”

Chief Executive Officer of the NSW Education Standards Authority Paul Martin said:

“It is fantastic to see the calibre of work being produced by primary students under the guidance of their teachers.

“This year we received the highest number of submissions for WriteOn and the standard was incredibly high.

“Writing skills are imperative to comprehension and learning across all subjects and these skills will benefit this cohort into the future.

“Congratulations, to these students from all school sectors across the state for their exceptional writing.”

Gold Award winners

Stage 1 

• Mie Arai - Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Primary School
• Eleanor Brown - SCEGGS Darlinghurst
• Charlie Daff - Galston Public School
• Audrey Leal - Killara Public School
• Kaine Ochieze - Redeemer Baptist School 
• Owen Tsang - Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School

Stage 2 

• Ariadni Delitsaki - Mona Vale Public School
• Shitong (Rocky) Jin -Hills Grammar School
• Gabriella Lam - St Andrew's Cathedral School
• Cruz Romagnoli - Bourke Street Public School
• Parker Wilson - Paterson Public School
• Clarice Zhong - Meriden School

Stage 3 

• Faith Kim - Redeemer Baptist School
• Malia Pring - Dubbo South Public School
• Anvika Sharma - Bardia Public School
• Gabriel Siemer - Bourke-Walgett School of Distance Education
• Lucas Wong - Chatswood Public School
• Irini Younan - St Patrick's Primary School