Gallipoli trip

OFFICIALS from the 2009 Spirit of Anzac Prize are encouraging Year 9 students from the City of Casey to enter the competition.
River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith said the all-expenses paid trip, this time to Gallipoli, was the experience of a lifetime.
Cr Smith chairs the selection panel for the southern region.
He said the panel received about 40 entries a year.
The panel then select the three best entries and sends them to the final panel for judging.
Entries can be in the form of an essay, musical piece, poem, video or artwork, and must be about the Anzac spirit.
“We pick people with an understanding, a passion for it. It is about the Anzac spirit, but it can be applied to other things- one entry was about the mateship and teamwork of fire fighters,” he said.
Cr Smith said students had flights, accommodation, and food paid for and were given spending money.
While abroad, students research a digger buried in an overseas cemetery and give a presentation on their life and achievements.
Cr Smith is also encouraging more boys to enter the competition, as they have been under-represented in previous years.
Entries for the 2009 Spirit of Anzac Prize close on 10 October.