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Submissions for the 2025 Young Writers' Award are now open!
2025 marks 36 years of Stanton Library and North Sydney Council celebrating the writing talent of young people in our community with our annual Young Writers' Award since 1989.
Young people aged 11 to 18 years old are invited to submit either one poem or one short story not exceeding 750 words.
Meet the Judges
Erin Gough
The author of two fiction books for young adults: The Flywheel, which won the Ampersand Prize, and Amelia Westlake, winner of the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the NSW Premier’s Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult Fiction. Her third novel for young adults, Into the Mouth of the Wolf, will be published in May 2024.
Helena Fox
She lives by the sea in Wollongong, Australia, and runs creative writing workshops for young people. She graduated from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Helena has travelled and lived all around the world, but of all her adventures, working with young people and helping them find and express their voice has brought her the greatest joy. How It Feels to Float is her debut novel.
Jaclyn Moriarty
Internationally best-selling author of novels for children, young adults and sometimes slightly older adults, including the books in the Kingdoms and Empires series. Her books have won the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, the Aurealis Award and other prizes, and been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council Book of the Year, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and the Nebula Prize.
Sue Whiting
Acclaimed children’s and young adult author and editor with over twenty years of experience. She is the author of the bestselling book Missing and the award-winning A Swim in the Sea. The Book of Chance was shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards and Highly Commended in the 2021 Davitt Awards.
Will Kostakis
A writer of all things, from celebrity news stories to cease and desist letters to tweets for professional wrestlers. He’s best known for his award-winning YA novels, The Sidekicks and The First Third. He was a teenager when his first novel, Loathing Lola, was published. His latest novel series, Monuments, has been shortlisted in the 2020 Indie Book Awards.
2024 Award Winners
Thank you to all the young writers who entered our 2024 Nan Mansfield Young Writer's Award!
Below are all the winning entries from each age category, including winners, highly commended, commended and merit entries.
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