HINTERLAND TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR

The results are in! We had the biggest response ever to our HT Young Writer Award, and the originality, imagination and depth of feeling in so many of the stories made it very difficult to choose just one winner. We whittled it down from 62 to 16, and there were literally one or two votes between those in the top 10.

Thank you to everyone who entered, we loved reading all of your stories, and we had to include an extra ‘Special Mention’ category, for those writers that showed such promise with their rich, evocative descriptions, humour, reflective prose and imaginative ideas.

The winner’s story and one runner up story are in this issue, and we will be printing the other two runner up stories over the coming months. (We also hope to publish some of the ‘Highly Commended’ stories if/when we have space.)

Unfortunately, runner up Nicholas Matthews was on holiday when we arranged the cover photograph, but we managed to pop across and take a photo of him last week in time for this issue!

So, from the HT team, a massive congratulations to our 2023 winner, Bayli Robinson, whose story (on page 12) moved every one of the judges. Bayli said, “Thanks to the Hinterland Times and all of the really kind sponsors, I still can't believe I was lucky enough to win!”

Winner

Eucalyptus by Bayli Robinson

Runners Up

She of the Never Never by Celine Xavier

I Was Lost by Anna Lawrence

Lost by Nicholas Matthews

Highly Commended

Lost to the Breeze by Isabel Schwabe

Stand Out by Charlotte Collins

The Crooked Man by Sara Bowler

The Day I Realised It Was Okay To Be Me by Huckleberry B. Hill

The Return of Spring by Elizabeth Duggin

I Realised I was Lost by Scarlett Eathorne

Special Mentions

Trapped in a Flat Pack by Temani Wheeler

The Return of Spring by Elizabeth Duggin

I Realised I Was Lost by Aisha Oliver

The Figure with the Hat by CharleyRose Hemingway

Lost But Free by Cooper Kuzma

A Confusion by Laif Godson-King

A huge thank you to our major prize sponsors: Harlequin Blinds and Security, Prime Medical Holdings, IDM Beerwah, Laurisha Jewellery, The Barn on Flaxton, Nellie’s Creative Hair Design and Forest Heart Nursery.

A very big thank you also to our other generous sponsors: Western Avenue Floral Design, The Little Book Nook, Montville Coffee, Majestic Cinemas Nambour, Secrets on the Lake, Petsafe.net, Cool Cats Rock ‘n’ Roll Woombye, Narrows Escape Rainforest Retreat, Cooroy RSL, Lake Borumba Caravan and Camping Grounds, Hammond Optometry, Maleny Players and Concept IT.