Students named Best Illustrators in 12-hour challenge

Winning students from Our Lady of the Way Primary

Students from Our Lady of the Way Primary, Emu Plains have won the Best Illustrators award for the NSW Write a Book in a Day Competition.

Primary students worked with students from McCarthy Catholic College to participate in the competition which supports children’s hospitals.

In a single day, teams of students are challenged to plan, write, illustrate, print and bind a book of between 2000 and 8000 words. Students are sent a setting, two human characters, a non-human character, an issue and five random words to include in their book and use their creativity to go from there.

Competition Coordinator Mrs Elizabeth Heggart said the Write a Book in a Day challenge saw McCarthy College enter 5 teams into the competition, the most we have ever had.

‘We were so lucky to have two wonderful teams from one of our feeder schools, Our Lady of the Way,’ said Elizabeth.

‘Both the primary and secondary students worked so well in their teams, using leadership skills together with cooperative learning and goal setting to complete their books in the 12 hours allocated.’

Principal at Our Lady of the Way Primary, Sue Veling said the challenge is a fantastic opportunity for the Stage 3 students to work with students from McCarthy Catholic College.

‘All students showed great determination to complete their book in 12 hours and during that time the students were able to work cooperatively as a team and display excellent leadership skills,’ said Sue. ‘Well done to one of the teams that won best illustration in NSW.’

Principal at McCarthy Catholic College, Ms. Robyn Meddows said the Write a Book in a Day challenge is just one example of working with feeder primary schools. ‘The passion that our teachers have in moving the skills of all our students to a higher level is wonderful to see, and it was great fun,’ said Robyn.