By JESSE GRAHAM
A HEALESVILLE student will receive a national award for her writing later this month after penning a piece on rainbows at her school.
St Brigid’s Primary School’s Lucille Belford, 9, was recently named as the winner of Oz Kids in Print’s award for the Best Short Story for a Primary School Child.
Lucille was chosen after 20,000 entries into the publication’s annual writing and art awards.
Lucille will be receiving her award on 29 November in the city.
Oz Kids in Print, which publishes a magazine with stories, poems and art from students around the country quarterly, will be publishing the piece in its 2014 Awards edition.
A Grade 3 student, Lucille said she had always been interested in writing, but that this was the first time she had submitted work in a competition.
“I was really happy and really surprised when Ms Nicholls read out my name,” she said.
“I’ve written quite a lot of stories, but none of them have gone that far – none have gone into a competition.”
She said that she’ll be entering the competition again next year, if it is run, and that she would keep on writing pieces – though she didn’t want to make a job out of it.
To read the Lucille Belford’s piece How the Rainbows were Made, visit mail.starcommunity.com.au
For more information on the event, and the publication, visit www.ozkids.com.au.
How the Rainbows were Made, by Lucille Belford.
Frank was a fig who lived on the only rainbow in the world. His ambition was to travel the world but the only problem was that he couldn’t get off the rainbow.
One day Frank decided to learn how to make more rainbows. He found an old ragged, falling apart potion book that belonged to his great, great grandfather. After reading the whole book thoroughly he was totally and absolutely disappointed, the potion was not there. In frustration, he pulled apart the grimy, stuck-together pages. As he ripped the last two pages, a folded card fell out.
Frank, in amazement, grabbed it and read. It was a potion for creating rainbows, arcs of beautiful kaleidoscopic colour in the air.
He started adding numerous coloured powders and liquids to an ancient, rusted cauldron which he lit with a match. He didn’t dare leave the spitting, bubbling mixture alone, even though it took until the full moon to make. Exhausted, Frank took the cauldron out into the chilly night, stirring the potion in the magical moon light. The moon slowly lowered while the sun rose, swirls of elusive pink and orange patterns.
Frank carried the cauldron, cautiously making sure not to spill a single drop of the rare potion. Turning, he banged into what he thought was a table. “Owwwww,” he yelled in pain. Grabbing a olden goblet, he turned around.
“Noooo, this must be a dream.” Frank was devastated, as he watched the potion spread over the floor and covered the walls of his house. It hadn’t been the table he had knocked into! The potion was ALIVE, rainbows were forming all around him. Frank tried to run to his bedroom but he found himself in the cupboard instead. Feeling totally lost, Frank lay there sobbing.
Frank suddenly sat up and noticed that the rainbows had spread out. He knew where he was going. Frank pulled on his brown travelling shorts, backpack with rope, and wide brimmed hat with corks dangling from the brim and seized a full drink bottle. He was happy and free, leaping from rainbow to rainbow.
