Result one for the pages

Kristen Parrotte and Lucy Burke were awarded in the Year 7 to 8 picture book category at a ceremony last week to open Book Week.

The competition asked pre-primary to Year 8 students to write, illustrate and bind their own fictional story or picture book.

Kristen's story Harry and his Hidden Gift was inspired by her brother Jake, who has autism.

"I�ve seen him struggle with the daily things that most people find easy but I�ve also seen his many strengths," she said.

"Because people with autism don't have obvious physical disabilities, they are often misunderstood."

�I chatted to mum about autism and then pulled it together in a story.

"I am really proud that this story has been read by lots of people through the judging process as I really wanted the message to get out."

Judges said Kristen's "easy to read facial expressions" drew the reader into Harry's world and supported the engaging storyline.

"Humour and empathy are employed to show, rather than tell, the reader about Harry's gift," they said.

Lucy's book Alone looked at the differences between first and third world problems.

She has been reading Morris Gleitzman's Boy Overboard as part of her English studies and said it made her think "the problems we have in our lives are not that big".

"We might complain about doing some activity that our parents want us to do, when in other countries children would love to have our opportunities," she said.

"I realised the power an author has in getting a story across and how images really do back up words to create a better meaning."

Judges said Lucy demonstrated excellent use of dual narrative structure.

"The sustained narratives are cleverly intertwined and carried through to a conclusion that, while satisfying for one character, is challenging to the other," the said.