Kid writers care for the planet

ONE hundred and twenty-one of the city’s grade 5 and 6 pupils have been thinking hard about how they can nurture the world around them.

Each took part in Ballarat Renewable Energy and Zero Emissions’ fifth annual World Environment Day Children’s Writing Competition, responding to the prompt, ‘what can I do to help the environment?’

At a presentation ceremony at the Ballarat Library, children from Phoenix College, Dana Street, Newington, and St Alipius primary schools were celebrated for their entries and ideas, and Dana Street’s Otway Kelsall won the comp overall with a poem.

Otway’s piece acknowledged melting icebergs, burning forests, plastic pollution, and dying wildlife, but said individuals can make a difference by taking immediate climate action.

President of BREAZE and the competition’s coordinator Mary Debrett said the aim of the initiative is to encourage cross-generational conversations between pupils, their parents, and educators about proactive environmental protection and sustainability.

“BREAZE is very grateful to those teachers who took-up the competition challenge as a class discussion topic,” she said.

“The judges this year were impressed with the quality of the writing, noting the number of poems, the sophistication of some of the writing, along with clever ideas and thinking, compelling insights, and clear directions for change.

“It is clear from the children’s writing that they are very aware of many of the problems besetting our natural environment and of the need for behavioural change. Plastic waste and pollution were common themes in their writing.”

BREAZE members judged the competition and nominated a best entry from each of the four schools, which submitted five or more pieces of writing.