Category Archives: Competitions
Seen + Heard Zine
Coinciding with Seniors Week 2015, the Blue Mountains Library held a creative competition for library members aged 13—21. The brief was to write a story or poem, or create an artwork about seniors in the Blue Mountains Community. And the response from young people was wonderful – each artwork and piece of writing submitted was a sincere expression of creativity, love, grief and celebration. The entries were all compiled into a ‘zine’ – a mini magazine – called ‘Seen + Heard’. Visit your your local library branch to pick up a free copy!
The library held the Zine Launch at the Blue Mountains Theatre and Community Hub on the 18th March, where the winners were announced and given their prizes. The winners were:
Writing:
1st Place –
Natasha Tioukavkin
The Judge says: Natasha did a wonderful job explaining PSP, the loneliness, the day to day routine and the love her Great Uncle had in his life. Her descriptive and evocative style drew the reader into the story, wanting to know more, to hear the outcome, to experience what he was experiencing. – Vicki Edmunds, Manager of Libraries & Customer Services
Winning writer: Natasha Tioukavkin
Highly Commended:
Freya Hill
The Judge says: The parallel story of Rose and El, the snippets of their lives and thoughts, beautifully brought together at the end. Represents old age and youth with very sharp detail. – Vicki Edmunds, Manager of Libraries & Customer Services
Freya Hill, Highly Commended for her writing.
Artwork:
1st Place:
Chloe Judson
The Judge says: The drawing style in this series of portraits is very sophisticated and heart-felt. – Naomi Oliver, Children’s and Young Adult Team Leader
Chloe Judson, awarded for her winning artwork.
Highly Commended:
Elizabeth Richards
The Judge says: The creative approach, thoughtful subject matter and vibrant result draw the viewer in. – Naomi Oliver, Children’s and Young Adult Team Leader
Live Life! 2014
Live Life! 2014 exhibit at Springwood Library during Seniors Week
The Blue Mountains City Library hosted the third year of Live Life! Portrait Competition for young adults (ages 15 – 21yrs). Coinciding with NSW Seniors Week, the competition entries could be of any medium, and needed to have a Blue Mountains senior citizen as the subject of the portrait. This project attempts to connect generations through art and dialogue, celebrating the precious wisdom and experience of elders in our community.
The winners have been announced:
WINNER – Melinda Allan (aged 15) and RUNNER-UP – Bethany Church. Congratulations to both winners! Our judge this year was local artist Beata Geyer (www.beatageyer.com). Beata is a Polish-Australian contemporary visual artist working in various media including installation, painting, photography and digital art.
Below are images of the winning works, accompanied by the written component of the competition, the artist statements.
‘A Man Named Alec’, by Melinda Allan (aged 15)
At the age of 79, Alec Bannerman has been a resident of Yellow Rock for 43 years.
Yellow Rock, along with Winmalee and Springwood, where devastated with the destruction of the October fires leaving over 200 houses destroyed or damaged. Luckily Alec’s house was not damaged but many of the houses along his street weren’t as fortunate.
Many people had to leave their memories in ashes and move to places to live. Alec, along with his church, found ways to contact these people whom had been heavily impacted. He listened and provided food hampers, emergency money, counselling and comfort to those in need. Alec has shared and felt the community’s pain and is still looking for ways to help.
I look up to Alec for his wise, kind and patient heart and the dedication to his community. I believe Alec’s story should be told and be heard by our generation.
– Melinda Allan
‘For Life’, by Bethany Church (aged 16)
I have chosen Doug Reed for my portrait for my ‘Live Life’ entry. I chose the medium of digital art. I also took the photo while Doug was between shifts.
Doug Reed has been a member at Winmalee Rural Fire Brigade since 1976. He has received a national medal with 2nd clasp and a long service medal for 30 years of service to the RFS. He recently invested his time and strength to the September Winmalee fires and the Lithgow fires. This photo was taken when Doug was having breakfast after doing a 8hr night shift during the tragic Winmalee fires.
Doug likes hiking around New Zealand and Tasmania. He also works as a umpire for paintball competitions and games. As a child I grew up with Doug’s crazy life stories with my parents. Hearing these stories enspired me to join the RFS. I have recently became a full fledged volunteer firefighter, Doug has help train me to get where I am now.
– Bethany Church
Book Week Art Competition Awards
Last week we held our award ceremony for the winners of the Book Week Art Competition, giving out prizes to the keen young artists. Attended by the winners and their family and friends, it was a wonderful afternoon. Library Manager Vicki Edmunds announced the winners, and our competition judge (Illustrator Louis Shea) awarded the winners their prize packs. All competition entries have been on display at Springwood Library for the last week, including the Winner’s Wall. You can see every entry here, and also on our Facebook page here.
The names of the winners are below (to see winning artworks close-up, please check out our blog post here):
Junior (Ages 5-7):
Darth Vader, by Rupert Begg (age 6)
Peter Rabbit, by Emma Flack (age 6)
The Avengers, by Perry Moore (age 6)
Intermediate (Ages 8-10):
Yu-Gi-Oh! Blue Eyes White Dragon, by Teo Lieu (age 8)
Chain of Charms, by Lucy Hughes (age 8)
Deltora Quest, by Nicholas Robinson (age 8)
Senior (Ages 11-12):
The Little Mermaid, by Grace Westley (age 11)
Bard (from The Hobbit), by Oscar Lee (age 11)
Anne of Green Gables, by Maisy Costa (age 11)
Congratulations again to all entrants, you helped make this Book Week a wonderful and creative celebration of reading!
Book Week Character Art Competition for Kids – The Winners Announced!
Firstly, thank you to every child who entered our Book Week Art Competition. The creativity, artistic talent and love of books and reading is inspiring, and heart-warming. Our judge, Illustrator Louis Shea, had to choose from over 200 entries to come up with his top three in each age category. So here are the results, in no particular order (drumroll):
Junior (Ages 5-7):
Darth Vader, by Rupert Begg (age 6)
Peter Rabbit, by Emma Flack (age 6)
The Avengers, by Perry Moore (age 6)
Intermediate (Ages 8-10):
Yu-Gi-Oh! Blue Eyes White Dragon, by Teo Lieu (age 8)
Chain of Charms, by Lucy Hughes (age 8)
Deltora Quest, by Nicholas Robinson (age 8)
Senior (Ages 11-12):
The Little Mermaid, by Grace Westley (age 11)
Bard (from The Hobbit), by Oscar Lee (age 11)
Anne of Green Gables, by Maisy Costa (age 11)
By Oscar Lee (age 11)
By Emma Flack (age 6)
By Rupert Begg (age 6)
By Teo Lieu (Age 8)
By Lucy Hughes (age 8)
By Grace Westley (age 11)
By Maisy Costa (age 11)
By Perry Moore (age 6)
By Nicholas Robinson (age 8)
An award afternoon will be held on Friday 20th September, 4pm at Springwood Library. Winning artworks will be on display at Springwood Library on the day.
‘Live Life’ Art Competition – for ages 15-21yrs
‘Timm Murrany’ by Lindsay Harper, 2012
‘Live Life’ Portrait Competition for Young Adults
This year will mark the second ‘Live Life’ Youth Art Talent Portrait Competition held by the Blue Mountains Library. The artistic brief is for youths aged 15-21yrs to produce a portrait of a senior from the Blue Mountains region, along with the story behind the picture. To enter, send a 270dpi .jpeg and 250 word description to: competition@bmcc.nsw.gov.au
Due date for entries: 11th February 2013 – Sunday 24nd March, 2013
Click here to view last year’s winners.
December Book Review Winner
A big thank you to all of those who entered our Love2Read book review competition each month last year. It was wonderful to find out what all of you were reading, and discover some new writers!
Patricia Allen has won the last Love2Read book review competition for 2012 – congratulations, Pat! She also won back in October with her entry about The Man Who Loved China, by Simon Winchester, and was an interviewee on our podcast, Listeners in the Mist.
You can read her winning entry for December here:
The Surgeon of Crowthorne, by Simon Winchester, is an intriguing tale, including murder and madness, describing the mighty effort involved in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Though there had been attempts before Dr Johnson’s dictionary in 1755, there was no in depth help for the meanings of words. By the 19th Century the need for a comprehensive dictionary was manifest. In 1878, James Murray, a brilliant lexicographer, born in 1837, was asked to produce one. He considered the work might take several years.
Murray needed the help of hundreds of volunteers who would read ancient writings, record words, write meanings and usages for assessment.
It took years to complete the letter A. The letter T took 5 years. It would take another 44 years to complete. Altogether, more than 70 years passed to produce the first edition of the great New English Dictionary in 1928. In 1933 the first supplement was known as the Oxford English or OED.
An American medical doctor , William Chester Minor born 1834, was retired from the American Army having been a surgeon in the American Civil War. Events in 1864 had unhinged this gentle man. He was irreparably damaged psychologically and medically discharged with a pension enabling him to travel to England. Dr Minor was highly intelligent, a cultured and an educated graduate from Yale university, though one with a greedy sexual appetite.
Simon Winchester’s vivid description of mid 19th Century London is a necessary reminder for those who only know present day London. Dr Minor was living in the area of the Lambeth marshes, south of the Thames, with undrained swamps, miserable slums, stinking tanneries and soap boilers. It was an area of many brothels enabling easy access to women. One night in 1872, tormented out of his mind with paranoia, Dr Minor shot a man and was subsequently committed to the Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum for the criminally insane.
At Broadmoor, he became a trusted prisoner housed in comfort, rather like a gentleman’s club, with privileges, books etc. His comforts included tobacco, a penknife, coffee, bookcases of his own books (his consuming passion), clothes, his flute and music, fob watch and gold chain.
When James Murray sought volunteers for his project, Dr Minor answered the call and for decades filled his days, whilst imprisoned in his cell at Crowthorne, reading, writing, and contributing to the compilation of the OED. It became a bizarre friendship for over 30 years, between two highly intelligent gentle men who loved the written word.
James Murray aimed to assess 33 words per day but sometimes one word would take almost a full day. It was a huge undertaking.
Dr Minor would read voraciously, record the words from rare, ancient books, especially 17th C authors, and send the scripts to Oxford for assessment.
Work on the Dictionary was Dr Minor’s medication.
A change of Prison Superintendent caused removal of many privileges from and heartless treatment of Dr Minor. He became unsettled and unhappy. As he aged his mental state deteriorated, delusions increased and his memories of past sexual conquests caused such loathing of his ‘sins’ that one day in December 1902 he amputated his penis with the penknife and threw his member into the fire.
Dr Minor was taken to America by his brother, Alfred, in 1910. By then he was frail, wasted, and in ill health. He died in March 1920.
His resource books are preserved in the Bodleian Library museum in Oxford.
This was a beguiling and thrilling read. 
