What Matters? Competition
Proudly Sponsored by Officeworks
The Whitlam Institute within the University of Western Sydney has announced Thalia Penninkilampi from Penrith High School as the overall winner of the 2010 What Matters? Competition. Thalia, who is in Year 10, received the award on Tuesday 22 June at a ceremony attended by Ms Thérèse Rein and Mrs Margaret Whitlam AO.
The What Matters? Competition, proudly sponsored by Officeworks is an opportunity for students in years 5 to 12 in NSW and ACT schools to have their voices heard, by submitting a 400-600 word opinion piece on the issues in society that are important to them.
Have a look at all the photos from the 2010 Award Ceremony
Congratulations to all of the 2010 competition finalists (Click each name to read their entry):
Year 5/6
Category Winner: Caitlin Howlett, Waitara Public School
Category Runner-Up: Joanne Liu, Artarmon Public School
Year 7/8
Category Winner: Anniek Grundy, Pymble Ladies College
Category Runner-Up: Latifa Tasipale, MLC Burwood
Year 9/10
Category Winner & Overall Competition Winner: Thalia Penninkilampi, Penrith High School
Category Runner-Up: Georgia Christie, Great Lakes College Forster
Year 11/12
Category Winner: Ruby Bouwsema, Coonabarabran High School
Category Runner-Up: Alinta Merrotsy, PLC Armidale
Competition patron, Dr Hugh Mackay, presented each category winner and runnerup with a certificate signed by former Prime Minster Gough Whitlam AC QC and Ms Thérèse Rein as well as a monetary prize. As the overall competition winner, Thalia Penninkilampi also received a brand new laptop and software package thanks to our generous competition sponsor Officeworks.
ActNow, an initiative of the Inspire Foundation, also invited the Year 11/12 category winner, Ruby Bouwsema from Coonabarabran High School to contribute to ActNow's Content Program (www.actnow.com.au), receiving training in writing and multi-media and the opportunity to be paid for her work.
Essays were judged by Sydney Morning Herald journalist and author Andrew West; Julie Hare, editor-in-chief of APN Educational Media; Eric Brace from the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, and Vijay Khurana, Triple J Presenter.
Each year we publish the winning entries in a booklet, which are available to download as a PDF by clicking on the icons below. Do have a look, it’s an impressive selection of writing from some of Australia’s best students.
Coming Soon - the 2010 Finalists Booklet
