A Story of Love and Loss

Mount St Patrick Primary School, Murwillumbah, Year 6 student Freya Payne was named runner-up in the Jesse Blackadder Memorial Prize in the 2022 Byron Bay Writers Festival. (12 August 2022)

Congratulations to Freya Payne a Year 6 Mount St Patrick Primary School, Murwillumbah, for being named Runner-up in the Jesse Blackadder Memorial Prize  at the 2022 Byron Bay Writers Festival for her outstanding picture book ‘My Two Big Dogs.’

The Jesse Blackadder Memorial Prize was created in 2020 in memory of Jesse Blackadder, author and founder of Byron Writers Festival’s StoryBoard program. The prize celebrates the creativity and imagination of student writers in Stage 3.

Young writers were asked to write an original short story on any theme from 500 to 1000 words. Freya’s story was constructed during the school’s daily silent writing sessions and recounted her wonderful memories of her two dogs, Juno and Moby. 

The judges' feedback for Freya was very positive, ‘This is a relatable story of love and loss. The writer uses white space and clear, short sentences to convey a universal emotional truth.’ 

Freya's proud teacher, Tim Waugh, was very impressed by Freya's writing.

‘Her word choices, her economical, very deliberate choice of language elicits a very powerful emotional response in the reader,' said Mr Waugh. 

To celebrate Freya’s success, the school has published her beautifully written story in a picture book for the library. Freya was very excited to know that her book had been borrowed. 

 ‘I was very surprised but happy that people are enjoying my story,’ said Freya.

Congratulations to Freya on her success.