THE winners in the latest Litlinks competition were announced last night  in a ceremony at the National Library of Australia, presided over by local writer  Jack Heath.

At the event, winner for the Senior Competition in 2011,  Sam Hardwick,  previously a student at  UC Senior Secondary College  Lake Ginninderra,  read two of his winning sonnets and spoke about his experience in the competition.

As well, there was a show debate on the subject “That the book is dead”  between Phyllida Behm from Canberr aGirls Grammar School (Year 11)and Daniel Ergas from Radford College (Year 12).

The winner in the  Junior Competition, judged by Anthony Hill, was  Judah Trueman from Canberra High School for “Seeking Asylum.”

Runners up were:

Phoebe O’Brien from Belconnen High School for “The Artist and the Musician”;

Elisha Jones from Calwell High School for Narrative Essay “Influence”;

Kate Turner from Lanyon High School for “A Beautiful Release” and

Jennifer Bartell from Melrose High School for “Tag, You’re Dead”.

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The winner in the Senior Competition, Judged by Rick MacCourt, was Matthew Grocott from St Edmunds College for “Creative Task”.

Runners up were:

Jacinta Evans from Hawker College for “Old Jerome and Jasper the Wonder Dog”;

Fiona Montgomery from St Francis Xavie rCollege for “Pirouetting Hurricanes”;

Stephanie Anderson from St Clare’s College for creative response to “Fahrenheit 451” and

Cary Longman from the UC Secondary College Lake Ginninderra for “The Undertakers”.

The judges noted that both winning stories dealt with serious themes and content. “Seeking Asylum” deals with a young person suffering from schizophrenia who escapes from a mental asylum, while “Creative Task” is told from the perspective of a young woman who has had an abortion.