August 11, 2020
Kingaroy student Charlotte Landherr will have her work published in a new teaching resource used by Australian secondary students after winning first prize in a national writing competition.
Charlotte, who is in Year 9 at St John’s Lutheran School, was awarded first place in the Flash Fiction – Student (Year 7-9) category of this year’s Jacaranda Writing Competition.
Her entry, “The Monster”, tells the story of a five-year-old child who is woken by her parents in the middle of the night and told the family is being chased by a monster and must run away.
Charlotte said she enjoys writing stories with a twist.
“The story is written from the point of view of the child and the truth about her situation isn’t revealed until the final sentence,” she said.
“Fantasy and dystopian stories are my favourite genres because they allow you to escape and create a whole other world.”
Organisers of the national competition said hundreds of entries had been received but Charlotte’s story really stood out among the many high-quality submissions.
St John’s principal Karyn Bjelke-Petersen said the school worked hard to encourage a love of reading and writing.
“We’re fortunate to have some talented teachers whose love of literacy is infectious,” Karyn said.
“It’s wonderful to see our student’s work receive recognition at a national level.”
Charlotte received a $100 cash prize and her story will be published in the new English 7 Jacaranda resource.
Footnote: In addition to short stories, Charlotte also enjoys writing longer works of fiction and is currently working on a dystopian novel set 800 years into the future called “Fatal Return”. She plans to publish a new chapter online each fortnight on her blog
