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This article was published on Monday, 12 December, 2016. The information contained within may be out of date or inaccurate. News articles and media releases older than 60 days are archived for future reference.

Best Start Book competition winner announced

The winner Tahlia Bourke also received a certificate for her efforts for her book “Who am I?” which was written for three and half year olds and will be included in book bags for the next 12 months.

The book competition is an initiative of the Greater Shepparton Community Early Years Language workgroup, which is part of the Best Start program. This is the third year the workgroup has run the competition which was open to all Grade 5 and 6 students attending a school in Greater Shepparton.

The workgroup wanted to include a local story as part of the book bag program and to celebrate local young talent. Nearly 1,000 children receive this bag each year from their Maternal and Child Health nurse.

Greater Shepparton City Council Director Community Kaye Thomson said “reading is such an important and enjoyable activity and the program hopes to encourage a love of books and reading amongst children and their family.”

Students were asked to write and illustrate an original story and could partner with another student if they wanted to. Primary schools could select up to three entries from their students to put forward for judging.

“We received 18 fantastic entries from six different primary schools,” said Ms Thomson. “The quality of the entries received was very high and the creative and colourful illustrations really added to the stories.”

“An independent, three person judging panel had the very difficult task of selecting a winner and said it was even harder this year than last year. In the end all three judges agreed that ‘Who am I?’ by Tahlia Bourke was the winning story for 2016,” she said.

The students’ school also receives a $100 voucher to purchase books and all runners up receive a certificate.

“A copy of all 18 stories will be placed in the Shepparton library so the community can go in and have a look at the wonderful young talent we have here in Greater Shepparton,” said Ms Thomson. “A copy of the winning story will also be sent to every primary school in Greater Shepparton.”

CLICK HERE to learn about literacy in Greater Shepparton.