And with the support of her English teacher Kathy Dempsey, the Year 9 student’s creative style has now caught the eye of some of the most celebrated writers in the country.
Marley’s story, ‘Mummy’s Hero’, was selected as the secondary category winner of the Country Press NSW 125th Anniversary Writing Competition.
The competition was promoted locally by the Southern Riverina News, which is a Country Press NSW member.
The judge was Ian Keast of Port Macquarie, who is a member of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (NSW).
He made up part of an independent judging panel across multiple award categories, and as a retired high school English teacher, his expertise was ideal for the category.
The competition was designed to commemorate the anniversary of Australia’s oldest print media association, founded in 1900.
As a special condition, competitors were required to include a mention of the ‘local newspaper’ as part of their stories.
Marley learned about the competition through school notices, and entered with the encouragement of Miss Dempsey.
She explained her story was based on the horrors of war.
“My English teacher told me it would be a good idea to do a story about loss, and I incorporated the idea of war into it,” Marley said.
“I thought it would be good to play on the idea of childish fantasies of war, and to show the realities of it.
“The newspaper idea was included in the memories of the soldier reviewing his past.”
While Marley has been building her love of writing over three years, she says most of her work is only read by her English teacher.
So for her work to now be seen by established writers and to win an award, Marley said it feels “pretty damn awesome”.
The competition was sponsored by agribusiness company, Manildra Group, which enabled entry to be free, with a total of 178 stories being entered across all categories.
Country Press NSW Inc president Lucie Peart thanked the Honan family, owners of Manildra Group, for their generous support in making this event a success, particularly for the country children and teenagers who have taken part.
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