A huge thank you to all our young members who sent in stories for this over the holidays. They were all fantastic stories and fun to read.  You made it difficult to pick our winners but here goes.

First Prize ($50 Prezzy Card)

Josh and Steve’s Summer accident!

Josh is a person with healing powers. He can run as fast as a cheetah and jump as high as 30 meters in the air. He is the most loyal and kind person there could ever be. His best friend is called Steve, and his favourite season of the year is summer. One of the reasons Josh loved ummer was savouring those delicious lemonade ice pops. Another was spending hours on the beach. 

This particular summer a significant event took place in the lives of these two friends. Josh was spending time at Steve’s house. It was such a terribly hot day and Steve had a magnificent idea of jumping on the tramp with foam bubbles. They asked Steve’s Mum if they were allowed, but Steve’s Mum said no. They were confused and Steve was angry so he went against his mother, grabbed the bottle of bubble liquid and turned the hose on. Josh thought about telling Steve’s Mum, but then thought this might be lots of fun so he went onto the tramp too. They were both having a refreshing blast when all of a sudden Steve screamed in pain clutching his hip and fell to the floor of the tramp. Josh quickly stopped jumping and asked, “What’s happening? What can I do?” Steve exclaimed that it was probably a hip bleed and he was incredibly sore. So Josh grabbed Steve’s hand to comfort him and immediately Steve somehow had no more pain in his hip. The pain had completely disappeared. Josh grabbed Steve’s other hand and pulled him up.

Just at that moment, Steve's Mum came rushing to them and asked “What’s wrong, are you boys ok?” The two boys said that Steve just had a hip bleed. Steve’s Mum eyed the blue tramp they had and gave an “I told you so” look at Steve and then said “Do you now understand why I said no Steve?” “Yes,” he answered. She looked at Josh, “If you didn’t know Josh, Steve has a blood condition called haemophilia, you can search it up when you get home. Basically, he bleeds a lot. This is the reason I didn’t want you having foam on the tramp as it makes it extra slippery and causes accidents to happen easier. Steve can’t be too careful with his bleeding disorder.”

“Yes, Mrs Rose,” Josh said, “Thanks for letting me know.” Then the boys went inside to watch a movie. 

During the movie, Steve whispered to Josh, “Dude, how did you do that power healing thing? That was super duper incredibly amazing.” “I know, right,” Josh said, “Maybe I should have a superhero name.” “Yeah, like Healing Man or maybe Ambulance Boy,” exclaimed Steve. “Nah, what about Captain Healer, it’s got a nice ring to it,” Josh answered. “Yeah, I think so too,” said Steve … “CAPTAIN HEALER!”

When Josh turned 22 he did become a superhero and he did get into the saving people business. Now he saves boys and girls with haemophilia around the world. In fact just the other day Josh saved a boy who hurt his head and started bleeding. And a girl caught in a fire who started bleeding like you wouldn’t imagine. His goal is to save everyone he can.

Name: Noah Gordon

Age: 12

Region: Northern 

Judge’s comments:  Loved this story.  It has superheroes, adventure, surprise, and even manages to pull in bleeding disorders.  What an ideal summer it would be with this healing superhero helping people with haemophilia around the world.  Brilliant.

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Second Prize ($25 Prezzy Card)

 

Hi my name is Raukokore Stirling and I am 8 years old. I live in Manurewa with my mum Cassie, my dad Te Ahuriri (T.A) and my brother Rigel who is 4years old.

My school hasn’t opened since the lockdown in August, so I had to stay home for 4 months and couldn’t even play outside with my friends. It was a very long time to just stay home and do schoolwork and chores.

When the border opened in Auckland, Rigel and I went on an aeroplane to Gisborne with our Nanny. We could play and swim with my cousins in their pools, have sleep overs and go to the movies. There was lots of hot days so we always went to the beach, and I love swimming in the big waves and trying to ride the waves on the paddleboards. It was really good to be out with all the family and having lots of fun.

We stayed in Gisborne for 4 weeks and Papa drove us back to Auckland, it was a 6 hour ride. It is good to be home and I’m excited to go back to school. I hope Covid goes away and there are no more lockdowns

Name: Raukokore Stirling

Age: 8

Region: Northern

Judge’s comments: This story captures the strange experience Kiwis have had the last few months, both the frustrating lockdowns and a delightful Kiwi summer at the beach, just like we all love!  I also hope Covid goes away!  I couldn’t agree more.

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Third Prize (Bookmark)

 

On one summer day there was a fish called Travis Bubbles his favourite thing to do was rap.  He was fishy famous. That summers day he planned to play at the lost city of Altanta.  There were 100,000 fishys at the concert but unlucky for them it was fishing season and 3,000 fishys were fished up. Then the fisherman went home and cooked them on the BBQ. Travis Bubbles decided never to do a concert in summer again.

Name: Jimmy McCabe

Age: 10

Region: Central

Judge’s comments:  This delightfully imaginative flash fiction story made me laugh. What an unexpected ending!  I’ll never look at rap or fish the same way again.  I loved it.