College Newsletter

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Creative Competitions

A reminder that we have several Creative Competitions open to students in Term 3.  The winter school holidays are a perfect time to unleash your creativity!  So make yourself a cup of hot chocolate and get writing.  We'd love to see your work.  

Annual DSC Short Story Competition is open!

If you could go anywhere, 

If you could do anything,

If you could be anyone… 

…what would you choose?

 

This year we have chosen to ‘mix’ things up a bit with our ‘Mix and Match’ Short Story Competition. Students can choose from a selection of settings, genres and characters to inspire the plot for their short stories.

 

Creative responses should be between 600-1000 words in length and can be written in any creative format (eg. short story, a series of diary entries, a newspaper article etc.)

 

All entries should be typed, printed and submitted with the cover sheet to the student’s English teacher by Friday 30 July.

 

The top entry from each English class will be submitted to a judging panel who will determine the best short story in each year level. There will also be a separate section of the competition for submissions written by SEAL and EAL students.

 

The winners from each year level will be invited to attend a literacy luncheon at the end of Term 3 where they will receive a certificate and their prize. 

 

All winning entries will also be published in the school newsletter. 

 

All information relating to the competition, including the poster displaying the setting, genre and character options, and the cover sheets, can be found in the Compass Newsfeed or can be requested from your English teacher.

 

So… what will you choose?

 

Fiona Cowan

High-Ability Practice Leader

Historical Fiction

Students in Year 7 to 10:

Do you like to write?

Do you enjoy History?

 

If yes, then this is the competition for you! 

The Historical Fiction Competition is now open.Students in years 7 to 10 can write on any period of history as long as their entry has a convincing setting that is historically correct in time and place. Your work can be linked to what you are currently studying or to any time that you find historically interesting. 

 

Some suggested ideas:

  • Write a story from the point of view of an owner of a hotel that is famous for being haunted by characters from the Roaring Twenties.
  • Write about an elderly character who was involved in an historic movement years ago.
  • You are a composer and your fierce rival is Ludwig van Beethoven.
  • You are a gossip columnist in 1930s Hollywood.
  • A day in the life of an apothecary in the 1600s.
  • Describe London from the eyes of an orphan during the Industrial Revolution.
  • You know who really killed JFK, and it wasn’t Oswald.
  • You’re Shakespeare’s apprentice, and he’s always taking credit for your ideas.
  • Write a story from the perspective of someone witnessing what would be remembered as a major historical event.

Events could be the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the first Olympics, the shipwreck of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy) or its discovery and the gold that was found with it.

 

To find out more and to read the judging criteria please visit this website: 

 

https://www.htav.asn.au/students/htav-historical-fiction-competition

 

Or speak to your Humanities teacher (History/Geography), or see Ms Farley.

 

Entries close on Monday 2 August

Word Limit = 2,000 words

 

Janelle Farley

Head of Humanities