2024 Award Winners
Thank you to all of the young writers who entered into our 2024 Nan Manefield Young Writer's Award!
Below are all the winning entries from each age category, including winners, highly commended, commended and merit entires.
16-18 years
Winner: Kathryn Rendulic - Untitled (Like Emerging)
Highly Commended: Tony Chen - Ox-Demons and Snake-Spirits
Commended: Jenny Fung - Children of the Forest
Merit: Anchita Eranki - Burnt Rice
Merit: Caitlin Demoiseau - Untitled (I Used To Think)
Merit: Crista-Nicole Gahdmar - The Yellowed Cards
Merit: Demelza Marion Lee - I Miss You
Merit: Elizabeth Soo - Untitled (At the Corners)
Merit: Gaby Cunningham - Woman: The Derivative
Merit: Lauren McGirr - Dearest Mum
15 years
Winner: Kayla Khoo - Letters, Unknown
Highly Commended: Amanda Linh - Cricket
Commended: Aikem Billing - Le temps passe et coule
Merit: Alexandra Roberts - Winter Exile
Merit: Annabelle Stapleton - Lights
Merit: Ching Hei Kylie Liu - Death of a Sunset
Merit: Francis Hsu - A History of Idiots
Merit: Matthew Clarke - Thunderbirds
Merit: Peter Luo - Memories in Bakhmut
Merit: Sophie Yang - Be a Lady
14 years
Winner: Sophie Christianson - The Old Swing Set
Highly Commended: Isla Campbell - Scarlet Tears and Ebony Flowers
Commended: Briar Qiu - Curtain Call
Merit: Edie Olesnicky - ChatGPT-imported.file
Merit: Isabelle Teh - Vignette
13 years
Winner: Sheryl Monteiro - A Girl Born From Flames
Highly Commended: Maggie Langsworth - 898 Grams
Commended: Niamh Aerin Black - Happy Birthday
Merit: Genevieve Nolan-Uzcilas - Singed Memories
Merit: Jaime Abigail Wong - Nine Years
Merit: Lexi Hartigan - Forever Existing
Merit: Piper Courtney - We Are Dying
Merit: Sophia Chitkara - Log Entry
Merit: Sophie Meng - Moon
Merit: Summer Phi - Underneath the Oak Tree
Merit: Tiana Abustan - For the Greater Good
Merit: Vera Yuen - Sunken Mattress
Merit: Valerie Chung - The Star
11-12 years
Winner: Louis Williams - Almond Latte
Highly Commended: Zachary Robertson - Emotional Intelligence
Commended: Jeana Shen - Cosmic Echoes Unveiled
Merit: Alessia Concetta Christel Leotta - Writing on the Wall
Merit: Cinny Yuan - I Am
Merit: Ein Shin - The First Folio of November and Me
Merit: Isaac Roth - The Old Oak Tree
Merit: Kenzie Maher - What Once Was
Merit: Luca Cowlishaw - Late
Merit: Mahee Bharadwaj - Beauty Through the Window Pane
Merit: Olivia Xia Wu - Grandma's Antiques
Merit: Sebastian Clark - Forever Changing
Merit: Swetha Eranki - Two Homes