BALLARAT High School year nine student Audrey English has been awarded first prize in the ABC Friends Ballarat essay competition.<\/p>\n
Responding to the prompt of whether \u2018a public broadcaster is essential in a democracy,’ Audrey was presented with a certificate and $300 for her 800-word argument.<\/p>\n
Woodmans Hill Secondary College year 9 student Molly Fredericks placed second, St Patrick\u2019s College year 12 pupil Benjamin Maxwell Nash was awarded third place, and an honourable mention was given to Mount Rowan Secondary College year 9 student Molly Coyle.<\/p>\n
Amidst his final few challenging months of VCE, Benjamin decided to enter the competition as he\u2019d never had the opportunity to showcase his writing, or have an essay judged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it would be a really good experience to further develop my writing skills and experiment with what I could do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our modern environment, politics, and how the media\u2019s connected to that, has become more important than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter school, I\u2019ve been looking at doing a double degree of arts and law, and I thought the essay prompt related to that well, and would be fun to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knowing that young people are engaging with the issues surrounding public broadcasting and democracy, ABC Friends Ballarat\u2019s David MacPhail has a \u201csense of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so impressed they could grapple with these ideas, reflect on them, and their own position. One person said they were aware of their own bias in exploring the issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese young people are at a level years ahead of what I was at that age. It\u2019s very impressive and I really feel they can do good things. We need to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BALLARAT High School year nine student Audrey English has been awarded first prize in the ABC Friends Ballarat essay competition. Responding to the prompt of whether \u2018a public broadcaster is essential in a democracy,’ Audrey was presented with a certificate and $300 for her 800-word argument. Woodmans Hill Secondary College year 9 student Molly Fredericks […]<\/p>\n