Celebrating Young Storytellers

Celebrating Young Storytellers: 2025 Mayoral Make-A-Book Literacy Challenge Winners

We’re thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 Mayoral Make-A-Book Literacy Challenge, celebrating the creativity and storytelling talents of local students.

This year’s competition saw an incredible 532 entries, involving 632 students - from individuals to small groups and entire classes. From these, 48 outstanding books were selected as winners.

A special awards ceremony was held at Woodville Town Hall on Friday, September 5, where winning students were honoured in person by Mayor Angela Evans.

At the event, Mayor Evans praised the young authors and illustrators for their imagination and effort.

“Each and every one of these young participants has written with a real purpose for a real audience – and that is something very special,” she said.

“Of course, tonight we are recognising the very best of these entries, as chosen by our volunteer judges. They look for originality, creativity, strong storytelling, thoughtful illustrations, engaging design, and quality presentation.

“But we also know that behind every child’s success is a network of encouragement. I would like to sincerely thank the teachers, principals, parents, library staff, council volunteers, our guest judges, and the dedicated council staff who have all played a role in supporting these children’s creativity and in making tonight possible.”

One of the evening’s highlights was hearing Dominik (Year 1) and Zara (Year 6) read their winning books aloud to an audience of nearly 200 attendees - a moment that was both heartfelt and enthusiastically received.

Each winning participant received a $30 QBD voucher, while all entrants were recognised for their efforts and creativity.

Among the judging panel were celebrated local children’s authors Ben Kitchin and Kristin Martin, who helped select the standout entries.

Congratulations to all our winners and participants - your stories have inspired us!

View a photo album of the ceremony here.

List: 2025 Mayoral Make-A-Book Literacy Challenge Winners

Preschool
Maggie - Jasper's Dog

Year 1
Rylee - The Long Haired Princess
Eleni - The Magic Unicorn
Dominik - Dominik's Missing Vegetables

Year 2
Estelle - DJ the Singing Seagull
Harrison - The Exterminators

Year 3
Delilah - Deep Sleep
Augusta - Clear
Alexia - Above the Clouds
Ava - The Day the Mermaids Meet Again
Carla - The Day the Mermaids Meet Again
Tadhg - Don't Bully Your Brother
Amandi - Grumps to Giggles
Amandi - The Quack Pack: Daisy and Sky's Story
Valentina - When a Potion Goes Wrong
Frankie - Crumble and the Haunted Mansion
Eliza - Crumble and the Haunted Mansion
Elizabeth - Me and My Dad's Cooking
Koa - The Crazy Hair Day

Year 4
Eduardo - Super Fruits and the Attack of the Garden Gnomes
Jarvis - The Cousin's Adventure
Rafael - The Enigma of the Cursed Chamber
Hugo - The Clumsy Ninjas
James - Rusty the Can on an Adventure
Shan - Sandcastle Showdown
Hannah - The Lost Dragons
Isabelle - Whats Up Mad Dog?
Phoebe - Magic Forest
Topaz - A Mission to Find Mum

Year 5
Lachlan - The Great Fall
Maddison - In a Matter of Seconds
Maxwell - The Sun Stones
Elena - Oops! I Went to the Past
Hannah - Little Miss Muffet and the Curds
Zoey - London Bridge Falls
Evelyn - Big Bad Ted
Yasmin - Big Bad Ted
Cooper - Shark in the Park

Year 6
Megan - Sophie's Sophisticated Kindness
Giovanni - Barry
Summer - Honey the Hedgehog and his Eggnog
Scarlett - Selena the Sassy Serpent
Ha My - What Should I Wear?
Zara - Pear-Shaped
Honor - Stone of the Ocean
Thea - The Athletic Apple Pie
Mila - A Friendship Fable

Class entry
Red 7 - The Time Travelling Class at Kilkenny Primary