Shortt Story Showdown

 (Plus a special thankyou)

Year 4, 5 and 6 Writing Competition

The 'Shortt Story Showdown' continued in Term 4 after great success in Term 3. Working with such talented writers (even late into the evening!) has become a real highlight of the day for me, as its incredibly rewarding to read so many creative and engaging works of literature created by our very own students. The contestants all work so hard, consistently seek and respond to my feedback, and thoroughly enjoy the process of writing.

The second installment of the competition was just as competitive as the first, meaning it was just as difficult to judge. In Term 4, participants were asked to write letters from the future, with each competing year level being offered their own unique challenge. The details of each challenge can be found above the winning entries attached below. 

I want to thank each and every student who signed up for the competition this year. While there can only be one prize winner per year level, the competition is only worthwhile with the talent and hard work of such a large group of students. I am excited to continue the competition in 2024.

A huge congratulations to our talented winners; Tahia Rahman (Year 6), Isabelle Goh (Year 5), and Aqeela Sharique (Year 4). They each took home a $15 Kmart voucher, a $20 Dillons Bookshop voucher, and a nice new pacer pencil to keep the literary magic coming. Please see below for their winning entries.

While I am in the midst of acknowledging our talented students, I wanted to single out and personally thank Julia Pavan Guimaraes - who I am sure you all know and recognise from her many appearances on 'Inside Magill'. For the last 3 years, Julia has hosted the show on multiple occasions, lead countless stories on school events and in classrooms all over, helped construct and narrate multiple scripts, and filmed hours upon hours of footage for the show. She did so with incredible expertise, passion and enthusiasm, and always managed her busy workload around it. In every story she did, in every interview she conducted, in every teleprompter reading she had to perform, Julia brought her bright, vibrant personality, as well her natural warmth and positivity to bring the best out in others, and keep our viewers engaged, informed and entertained. It will be nearly impossible to replace her contributions to the show, and she is such a huge reason it has been so successful and eas(ier) to manage. I'm sure there's a role in the media for her in future if she wants it! I just hope she remembers where it all started!  

Mike Shortt

Assistant Principal