Inspiration found in grandparents
Teen writer Amelia Kendall is blown away by her win in the Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards.
The 17-year-old won the secondary school division of the prestigious competition.
Her story The Rose Garden trumped 250 entries from around New Zealand.
Kendall based the story around her perception of her grandparents.
‘‘I wanted to do a life story and something that people could laugh at and relate to,’’ she says.
‘‘I looked at my grandparents and imagined between them.’’
Kendall has never entered the awards before and says she was inspired and encouraged by her English teacher.
‘‘My favourite type of writing to do is actually poetry,’’ Kendall says. ‘‘I have written quite a few poems but not many short stories.’’
The secondary school division had a 3000 word limit and was judged by authors Sarah Quigley and Emily Perkins alongside Sunday Star-Times editor Jonathan Milne.
Perkins says The Rose Garden is ‘‘funny and observant, with
interactions some terrific use of language, textural details, images, contrasts and unexpected character revelations.’’
Kendall, a pupil at St Cuthbert’s College, receives $1000 cash, a Kobo eReader, a $100 Paper Plus voucher and $1000 worth of books for the school library. The three winning stories will be published in the Sunday Star-Times and on stuff.co.nz.
Tracy Farr won the open division and Suzanne Takiwa won the non-fiction essay.
Sunday Star-Times is a sister publication of the Central Leader and both are owned by Fairfax Media.