2023 Mary Poppins Literary Competition winners unveiled
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious young Fraser Coast authors and poets have been recognised in the 2023 Mary Poppins Literary Competition and shared almost $2000 in prize money.
Fraser Coast Regional Councillor Phil Truscott presented the winners with their cheques at a ceremony in Maryborough over the weekend.
Cr Truscott congratulated all those who entered and thanked Mary Inc., an organisation grown out of the Proud Marys Association Inc., for running the competition.
“We’re pleased to support this competition through our Fraser Coast Libraries branches and encourage young writers and poets in the region to express their creativity,” he said.
Mary Inc. secretary and CityPoppins team leader Mary Lange said the competition had been running since 2000 and it was fantastic to see so much continued interest with entries received from 13 different schools as well as home-schooled students.
“We believe this competition offers the greatest prize money for young writers in the country, totalling nearly $2000,” she said.
“The author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers, was born in Maryborough and we host the competition, which is supported by the Cherry Tree Foundation (P.L. Travers Trust) in London and the Zonta Club of Maryborough, in her honour.
“This year we also paid tribute to one of the competition’s founders, Mrs Anne Miller, who passed away last month, through an Encouragement Award.”
The literary prize winners were:
Years 3 and 4: 1st Archer Lorenz-Stockdale, 2nd Oscar Chambers, 3rd Valentina Valdivia, Highly Commended – Indiana Bounsall and Myles O’Gorman
Years 5 and 6: 1st Violet Jordaan, 2nd Abigial Piper, 3rd Blake Champney
Years 7, 8 and 9: 1st Abigail Rose-Scopelliti, 2nd Hudson Frahm, 3rd Jonathan Douglas, Highly Commended – Georgina Mulligan and Rachael Nissen
Years 10, 11 and 12: 1st Anna Hoffman, 2nd Tainei Gowdar, 3rd Grace Mulligan
The poetry prize winners were:
Years 3 and 4: 1st Evie Brown, 2nd Joel Bounsall, 3rd Indiana Bounsall, Highly Commended – Archer Lorenz-Stockdale and Annie Skipp.
Years 5 and 6: 1st Isla Brown, 2nd Isaac Chambers; Encouragement Award – Ruben Hoffmann
Years 7, 8 and 9: 1st Hudson Frahm, 2nd Georgia Mulligan, 3rd Sophia Chambers
No poetry prizes were awarded in the Years 10, 11 and 12 category.