Students win Write-a-book-in-a-Day competition

students

In 12 hours, 10 Year 12 students wrote 4000 words, illustrated, edited, published and bound a book.

On Friday 30 October students from St Andrews College, Marayong won first place in the NSW Upper Schools division of the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day competition.

In 12 hours, 10 Year 12 students wrote 4000 words, illustrated, edited, published and bound a book.

The Write-a-Book-in-a-Day Competition was a timed challenge in which student teams were required to work as a team creatively to produce an engaging story for 10-14 year olds.

Year 12 student Alexia Newsome, who contributed to the winning book Malice, said it was a challenging and exciting experience.

“Overall this was a really fun, challenging and exciting experience that gave us the opportunity to push ourselves to work together to create something not just for ourselves but for a good cause,’ Alexia said. ‘My team and I are all very grateful to St Andrews College for supporting the Kids Cancer Project and encouraging us to take part in this competition.’

‘In this competition every body benefits, the people who create the books, those who read the books and the organisation raising money for further cancer research; and that's what makes this project such a rewarding experience,’ she said.

Students receiving their award for their winning book Malice.

Write-a-Book-in-a-Day raised over $100,000 for The Kid's Cancer Project, through donations received from competing teams.

All student books in NSW go to The Children's Hospital at Westmead.

The college’s librarian Lyndal Dennis said the competition was excellent for promoting teamwork, artistic, writing, technical, editing and publishing skills.

‘Students all experienced a sense of satisfaction and achievement and felt it was a great activity for a worthy cause,’ Lyndal said. ‘The winning team all expressed their delight in having taken part in the day.’

St Andrews College entered three teams in the 2015 competition. Each team was given a different scenario, outlining words they must include and main characters, one of which is an animal. The teams were: The Sloths - Book: Malice Gold to win - Book: If the Shoe Fits The Blues - Book: In The Blink of an Eye

Acting Principal Shauna Nash said good Literacy opens the door to the world and provides our young people with countless opportunities to make their unique mark and contribution to the future.

‘This competition allows our students to challenge themselves to use their literacy skills in the service of others by demonstrating their creativity for a very worthy cause,’ Shauna said.

Written By

St Andrew's College Marayong
www.standrewscmarayong.catholic.edu.au

13 Aug 2025
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07 Jul 2025
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