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MORE than 100 young people from across the City of Casey showed they have a knack for writing in the fourth annual Fresh Words Young Writers Competition.
City of Casey Mayor Shar Balmes said a record number of entries were received for this year’s competition, with 40 awards presented in the categories of Creative Writing, Poetry and Lyrics or English as a Second Language.
“It was great to meet so many passionate young people with a love of writing and to hear some of their inspirational and insightful work,” Cr Balmes said.
Cr Balmes presented the awards on 19 October at the Cranbourne Community Theatre.
The guest speaker for the evening was Tim Pegler, who travelled through Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and India as a journalist, and has since authored two novels for young adults, Game as Ned and Five Parts Dead. He encouraged the young writers to continue exploring their ideas and to make the most of opportunities like the competition to gain exposure for their work.

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