A HUGE congratulations to Marco Bongers (Year 6) for winning two separate awards for his picture book A Sneeky Adventure - A Friend for Sneeky.
Marco won second place in the Year 5-6 Picture Book category in the WA Children’s Book Council, Make Your Own Story Book Competition. Marco also won third place in the Year 5-6 category in the Armadale Young Writers’ Awards, which was recognised by the City of Armadale.
Marco’s story is about a spider named Sneeky who goes to the beach. When Sneeky’s sandcastle is washed away he uses a surfboard to go out to sea to look for the sandcastle. He comes across a jelly fish which is caught in a rubbish bag. Sneeky rescues the jelly fish and brings it back to shore where he cuts off the rubbish bag and places it in the recycling bin. Sneeky and Jellylegs become friends as a result.
It is a beautifully presented picture book where both the text and illustrations (photos) work together to make it a very entertaining and appropriate book for young readers. To quote the WA Children’s book Council judges:
‘A Sneeky Adventure – A Friend for Sneeky is an original and well-constructed story. Marco, you have taken a very relevant and current environmental issue and created an original and humorous story to convey an important message. Your clever use of photography displayed great creativity and attention to detail, enhancing the story and adding appeal to your readers. A very enjoyable story well suited to young children’.
On 18 August, at the Fremantle Literature Centre, Marco was presented with his second-place certificate and a book gift voucher, by acclaimed West Australian children’s illustrator Aska, and Jan Nicolls, President of the WA Children’s Book Council. At the presentation it was wonderful to see all the other winning entries and to hear from some of the young authors.
On 5 September, Marco was presented with his third place trophy and a cash prize by author Cristy Burne and the Mayor of Armadale.
