Amy Pens A Winning Story

There is no reason that Aussie kids in small regional settings can’t outshine their peers from larger, urban or city areas.

Young Amy Manwaring is proof it can be done - and all she did was pick a pen and write a story.

Amy entered the annual ANZAC Writing Competition held in the Riverina because it was part of her school’s writing program.

“My story is about a young man called upon to go to World War 1,” Amy said.

“My ideas for my story came from books that I have read about war.”

Little did this 11-year-old wordsmith know that her six years of writing experience would yield her one of the four wins in the Primary School section.

That’s right, Amy has been writing since she was five years old, but only for school, she was fast to point out.

When asked what she liked about writing, Amy put it down to imagination. “I can use my imagination and write about things I like,” she said.

Amy’s entry was one among more than 650 primary and secondary school entries from around 30 schools across the Riverina this year.

“My school is small, but friendly,” Amy said.

“We enjoy sports with other small schools and I am a Year 6 leader with two others. Our school has 22 students and great teachers.”

Writing may be a very distant second to her dream of becoming a vet or nurse because of her love of animals, particularly horses.

Amy’s story, along with the other winning and highly commended works, will be published in the annual ANZAC Day commemorative booklet produced by Federal Member, Michael McCormack, which should start arriving in mailboxes across the electorate in the coming weeks.

She will also receive a book prize from the Australian War Memorial.

• Topics:

• Literature
• Competitions
• Anzac Day