Three Year 5 students from St Peter’s Primary Port Macquarie were nominated in the Top 10 Finalists from 20,000 entries received for Storython, an online event for students across Australia and New Zealand.

Storython challenges Australian and New Zealand students from Year 3 to Year 8 to write micro stories that are exactly 100 words. Micro stories challenge writers to focus their attention on the impact of every word and writing precisely.

This Term’s topic was ‘A Different World-Living in Lockdown’. Students completed three entries and were encouraged to take on a different perspective in each entry.

The three St Peter’s Primary School Finalists were: Samantha, Charley and Marley, with Samantha declared the Champion for the Upper Primary Category.
Samantha says her success comes from her passion for making stories come alive. “I like that you can make whatever you want to believe alive in your mind through words”, Samantha said.

Samantha’s entry was written as a letter from the Coronavirus wondering why everyone wants to keep their distance. Charley’s story was written from the perspective of toilet paper about to be snapped up in panic buying. While Marley wrote about the frustrations of being kept at home during the lockdown.
St Peter’s Primary School Principal Geoff Leary says Storython was a great opportunity for students to express themselves through writing.

“To have three of our students in the Top 10 from 20,000 entries is an absolutely outstanding result. We are so proud of them,” Geoff said.“Writing is an important skill that continually develops over a student’s schooling life and beyond. Students writing micro stories, especially ones relating to their COVID-19 experience, encourages them to collect their thoughts and articulate them into a piece that both makes sense and captures the reader’s attention.”

Storyathon has already proved popular with more than 3,000 classrooms participating and more than 50,000 stories created to date. Finalists were selected based on votes received from across the Asia/Pacific region.

“We hope to be involved in Storython again at another stage throughout the year,” Geoff concluded.