Thousands of teams participate in Write a Book in a Day across the country, but only a handful can be named as winners.
The schools and their writers that consistently see their names on the honour roll have it all down pat, and in a Write a Book in a Day world first, we managed to get them to share some of their secrets!
In the first of a three-part series on what it takes to create consistent success; we discuss whether preparation is key ahead of Australia’s most inspiring writing challenge.
Huntingtower School, a co-ed school based at Mount Waverley in Victoria, knows what success looks like. Taking home a National Title in the Middle Years Division last year, plus state awards for their teams in Years 10, 11 and 12, Huntingtower are constantly in the conversation for winning publications.
Given their impeccable record of success, one would be forgiven for thinking the writers were being schooled by the Team Coordinators for months on end in the lead-up to their writing day.
But according to Huntingtower’s Director of Student Communication and Engagement, Matthew McDonald, it’s quite the opposite.
“Most of the preparation is driven by the students themselves. The online library of past books proved a great resource that some of the teams really took to get ideas and figure out what they liked and to find some tips and ideas for their teams,” Matthew says.
“Students need to understand that they are the ones who will drive and control everything. They learn far more by working through the problems themselves, and in the process of doing so, often come up with much better solutions that we could have advised.”
Huntingtower’s national champions, the W-All Stars, wrote The Flood of Time, recognised as the Best Middle School book in the country last year. The team says they took the competition on with the freedom afforded by their Team Coordinators.
“To prepare, we familiarised ourselves with past books, practiced brainstorming story ideas quickly, and worked on our writing and editing skills. Our team also discussed strategies for dividing tasks efficiently so that we could make the most of our time during the competition.”
If you head west to WA’s Ursula Frayne Catholic College, there’s no lead-up work done at all! It’s proven to pay off for the K-12 school, with several teams taking home prizes in WA last year. Team Coordinator Tenille Walsh tells all.
“There is no specific lead up preparation done by the students for the competition in terms of building on creative writing or illustrating skills, aside from what the students are already developing in their English and Art classes,” she says.
“We have a few meetings beforehand just to organise teams where the students will try to come up with a fun or quirky team name for themselves and inspire some fundraising spirit to rally behind an important cause.
“The students are encouraged to think about the organisation within their teams – who will be the writers, who will be the illustrators – but other than that, it is purely up to their creative genius on the day!”
Team Eunoia: The Beautiful Thinkers, who won best Illustrated Book in 2023 for “Noia”, share their thoughts on how they achieved success.
“Communication is key – don’t be afraid to ask for help and receive feedback from teammates. Ensure you give plenty of time to edit work as a group at the end of the day.”
We have refined our skills to produce something meaningful to ourselves, but also to those who read it. We hope to achieve happiness and satisfaction from our final story, and knowing we have impacted lives with our donations towards a great cause!”
Cover picture provided by Huntingtower School