The National Cherry Festival Writing Competition began in late July, closed on 16th October, and the winners have been announced.
Organized by the Lambing Flat branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, the Writing Competition was held this year despite the cancellation of most activities scheduled for the National Cherry Festival.
Perhaps it was due to COVID 19, giving people plenty of idle time to exercise their writing skills, but this year was one of the most successful competitions the Lambing Flat branch has run over many years. A total of 396 entries were received in the Open sections — from right across Australia — consisting of 168 short stories and 228 poems. A further 237 entries were received in the Schools sections—mostly from schools in the local region.
The winner of the Open Short Story was Jenny McLoughlin from Arundel in Queensland for her tale “Mad Molly”. The winner of the Open Poetry Section was David Campbell from Airey’s Inlet in Victoria for his poem “Feeding Time”. Although some sections of the secondary schools were down this year, there was an excellent representation from the primary schools, with many winners coming from schools in Young and surrounding areas.
The Writing Festival will return in 2021.
