A Story in Miniature - 2024 writing competition

VATE's Story in Miniature writing competition has drawn to a close and this year we received 343 entries from students and teachers around Victoria. Transforming one story into a piece of polished prose in fewer than 500 words is no easy feat! It requires planning, precision and an unexpected element of surprise. This year, the winning entries best represent the essence of the competition theme. Congratulations to all students and teachers who made the competition shortlist. The judging panel was impressed with the range of stories and the interesting approaches that each person took toward creating their own story in miniature.

We are delighted to announce the winners and runners up for the 2024 Story in Miniature competition. You can read each of the entries below

Year 7 and 8 category
There were 134 entries in this category

Winner
Alice Bull (Star of the Sea College) – The Dangerous Drive

Runner-up
Elsa Ngo (Eltham High School) – Pet Shop

Year 9 and 10 category
There were 118 entries in this category

Winner
Orlando Pettinella (Parade College) – Cadenza

Runner-up
Lara Graham (Village High School) – Peach Rings

Year 11 and 12 category
There were 55 entries in this category

Winner
Valerie Golebiewska (Vermont Secondary College) – 'Ke-nee-bahl

Runner-up
Poppy Holden (Prahran High School) – Wipeout

Teacher category
There were 36 entries in this category

Winner
Melanie Gaylard (Eltham High School) – Church Camp

Runner-up
Kate Rees (Plenty Valley Christian College) – 'The Road to King's Canyon'

 

Teaching package

You can access the A Story in Miniature teaching resource, which includes annotated examples of the winning entries from 2023, ideas for teaching the themes of each story, discussion questions, and writing activities mapped to each of the winning entries, through the 'Resources' section of your VATE account. To access the resource, log into your VATE account in the top righthand corner and under your name click 'Resources'. You will see the resource in the results that pop up or you can click here if you are already logged in.