Betty Behan and Gwen Cockell Writing Prizes 2022

The English Department were delighted to read so many powerful entries for the Betty Behan and Gwen Cockell Writing Prizes. Students should look out for their work in the Lux magazine released next year as we were able to include extracts from a number of pieces.

The prize winners will be awarded at Speech Night. Their pieces will be published in full in Lux and can be read on Cognito.

The Betty Behan Memorial Short Story Prize – Junior was awarded to Pui Wai Evelyn Li (Year 7) for her piece, ‘Forget- All Because of Lies.’  Her writing artfully blends elements of both prose and free verse to create a creative exploration into themes of duplicity and mental anguish.

Sky Barrington (Year 8) was also Highly Commended for her evocative short story ‘Thanatophobia’.

The Betty Behan Memorial Short Story Prize – Senior was awarded Helaina Travassaros (Year 9). Her prose piece, ‘Like Chalk and Cheese’ uses the situation of a gymnastics competition to craft a modern allegory that reminds the reader to appreciate the beauty and perfection that exists in the ‘flawless dance’ of nature, both in the human and natural world.

Madeleine Soo (Year 9) was Highly Commended for her piece entitled ‘Happiness’.

The Gwen Cockell Prize for Creative Writing has been awarded to Christine Chen (Year 9) for her powerful poems “An Ode to My Mother” and “Burning Bridges.” Her poetry employs captivating imagery to emphasises both the fragility of life and the temporal nature of identity and belonging. This is the second year that Christine has been awarded this prize and it is so lovely to see the developing maturity in her creative work.

We received many outstanding entries in the Gwen Cockell Competition and Emma Chang (Year 9), Eleanor Lawrie (Year 9) and Zara Perkins (Year 8) have all been Highly Commended for their original pieces.

Thank you to all the students who shared their work. We are very proud of our writing community at SCEGGS.

Jennifer Bean
Head of English