River of Stories Awards

River of Stories is a writing competition for Primary and Secondary school students who reside in the Albury Wodonga region. It has been brought to the region by the Albury Hume Rotary Club since 2003.

Students in Years 3 to 12 were invited to submit a Short Story or a Poem relating to the theme of ‘The things we love’. Great prizes for the winning writers in each of the ten categories included the winner in each category receiving a $300 donation to their school library.

And the 2021 winners are...

Congratulations to all the young writers who received awards for their short stories and poetry. Well done!

And a huge thank you to everyone who entered the River of Stories competition this year. The judging panels loved reading all the entries. Keep up the great work. We look forward to more stories and poems from you next year.

Read the winning entries by downloading the PDFs below.

Short Story Category Winners

Year 3-4

• Winner: Lucy Boyd, Trinity Anglican College
• Runner-up: Annabelle Spinelli, St Patrick’s Parish School Albury
• Runner-up: Lily Peachey, Trinity Anglican College

Years 5-6

• Winner: Addison Mark, St Patrick’s Parish School Albury
• Runner-up: Freya Sullivan, St Patrick’s Parish School Albury
• Runner-up: Sienna Jones, Trinity Anglican College

Years 7-8

• Winner: Charlie Pinard, Catholic College Wodonga
• Runner-up: Clara Rocchiccioli, Wangaratta High School
• Runner-up: Hannah Nelson, Catholic College Wodonga

Years 9-10

• Winner: Jaz Tutt, Catholic College Wodonga
• Runner-up: Amelia Wakefield, Trinity Anglican College
• Runner-up: Abbey Orzeszko, Catholic College Wodonga

Years 11-12

• Winner: Arwen Cropley, Beechworth Secondary College
• Runner-up: Isabella Tozer, Catholic College Wodonga
• Runner-up: Matilda Robb, Victory Lutheran College

Poetry Category Winners

Year 3-4

• Winner: Alec Giannone, Victory Lutheran College
• Runner-up: Mannatt Bhullar, Trinity Anglican College
• Runner-up: Laycee Jane Nocentini, Yackandandah Primary School

Years 5-6

• Winner:Semia May, St Francis of Assisi Primary School
• Runner-up: Emily Davidson, St Francis of Assisi Primary School
• Runner-up: Leonardo Giannone, Victory Lutheran College

Years 7-8

• Winner: Rosie Franzke, Mt Beauty Secondary College
• Runner-up: Tom Zhang, Trinity Anglican College
• Runner-up: Abigail Karslake, Albury High School

Years 9-10

• Winner: Abbey Quinlan, Victory Lutheran College
• Runner-up: Lara Diffey, The Scots School
• Runner-up: Madeleine Steer, The Scots School

Years 11-12

• Winner: Ava Kennett, Tallangatta Secondary College
• Runner-up: Skye Carlisle, Catholic College Wodonga
• Runner-up: N/A

Due to the impact of COVID restrictions, a Zoom ceremony was held for competition finalists on Tuesday 14 September. You can watch the ceremony below. We regret we were not able to include all entrants in the ceremony.

Watch the 2021 River of Stories Awards Ceremony

Teaching resources

Download our writing guides to assist with lesson planning and supporting your students to get the most out of entering our writing competitions.