A pair of skilful wordsmiths from the same school have taken out the top-two North Riverina secondary division awards in the Federal Member for Riverina and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s eighth annual ANZAC Day writing competition.
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Year 9 students Sienna Emseis, 14, and James Finn, 15, from Red Bend Catholic College in Forbes wrote emotive pieces to be awarded the winner and highly commended prizes for the North Riverina Secondary School division of the competition.
Mr McCormack presented the students with their prizes while in Forbes recently and congratulated the students on their efforts.
“Both Sienna and James have written fantastic pieces which really put the reader in the shoes of their protagonists,” Mr McCormack said.
“Sienna tackled the difficult subject of post-traumatic stress which many soldiers experienced after returning from the war and James told a tale of a soldier not coming home from the perspective of the soldier’s grieving young son.”
Mr McCormack was pleased to receive entries from across the electorate, saying it is as important as it has ever been to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who have fought for peace and freedom in conflicts all over the world.
“A total of 675 students throughout the Riverina and Central West entered the ANZAC Day writing competition this year,” Mr McCormack said.
“It was a difficult process to narrow down the entries to a few winners, but it goes to show the high calibre of our teachers and students in the Riverina and Central West.
“Each and every one of the students who entered should be proud of their efforts.”
Entries were put into primary and secondary categories with the Riverina electorate divided into North, South, East and West divisions.
Each of the students’ winning entries can be found in Mr McCormack’s eighth annual ANZAC Day commemorative booklet, which landed in letterboxes across the electorate in the lead up to ANZAC Day.
The booklet contains moving stories from across the Riverina and Central West, including Cowra, Crowther, Forbes, Gooloogong, Greenethorpe, Gundagai, Lockhart, Marrar, Old Junee, Parkes, Springdale, Temora, Ungarie, Wagga Wagga, Wallendbeen and Wyalong.
The 60-page booklet also contains a comprehensive guide to ANZAC Day services across the Riverina and Central West.
