We’re delighted that Stories of Life, as a writing competition and publishing platform, is gaining traction. This year we’ve seen an increase in entries overall, most noticeably in the youth category. We also received more international entries and our title story, Papa’s Shoes, is from Valmai Redhead, who lives in New Zealand.
In some way, it almost feels sacrilegious to pick winners from the 2019 anthology, because each story is a hymn of praise or a testimony of faith. But Stories of Life is a writing competition, and the categories provide writers and editors a framework to work within, while the prizes enable us to honour and celebrate excellence.
The high bar for excellence in artistry was highlighted to me when I once visited the Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna. There was a continual stream of people flocking to the picture gallery where I happened to have the time to stand and contemplate paintings by the Old Masters. As I did so, I caught the gist of what several tour guides were saying. I don’t understand German or Spanish, but there were several guides speaking English or Mandarin. Much of what was being said was, essentially, the gospel message.
This experience made me reflect on how beauty in worship draws people to Christ. Many of the Old Masters had used paint and paper to communicate bible stories. Hundreds of years after their passing, their art is still communicating concepts around sin, redemption and hope.
As wordsmiths, written stories are our medium.
And so, in the spirit of celebrating excellence in the craft of writing, we congratulate the following prize-winners and thank them for their true stories of faith and testimony:
Tabor Stories of Life Category (1000 – 1500 words)
1st: Confessions of a Realist by Emily Maurits
2nd: No Place Like Home by Gaynor Faulkner
3rd: Vessel by Rebecca Abdel-Nour
Eternity Matters Short Stories of Life (500 words and under)
1st: In A Manger by Joanne Prenzler Smith
2nd : Drop Zone by Juni Desireé Hoel
3rd: That Crazy Message From God by R. J. Rodda
Lutheran Education Young Stories of Life (500 – 1000 words for writers aged 17 and under)
1st prize: The Golden Detour by Kaitlin Turland
2nd prize: The Happy Memoir by Baxter Gierus-Heintze
3rd prize: (equal third): My Mother’s Death by Jonah Teh and My Journey climbing Mount Kinabalu by Leanne Low
Highly Commended: Story of My Life by Joyce Ling
Thank you to our judges Simon Kennedy (Open), Kit Densley (Short) and Ruth Bonetti (Youth) for taking the time to read through all the entries and for selecting the winners.
Going back to that art gallery in Vienna, one artist in particular stood out to me: the sixteenth-century Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder. I especially loved his painting, the Conversion of Paul.
You can see Paul in the middle of the picture, in bright blue, having fallen off his horse. Brueghel clad the people in his painting according to the fashion of the day and set biblical scenes in his native homeland, modern day Belgium. That, to me, is what the Christian artist is constantly trying to do: communicate gospel truths in ways that are accessible and appreciated by contemporary society.
In the painting, a convoy of soldiers marches into a narrow mountain pass, but the viewer can see ahead that it is dark and impassable. In imagery familiar to his fellow countryman, Brueghel beautifully portrayed the futility of man’s efforts without God. The convoy will have to turn around, as will Paul, the persecutor of Christians to become a persecuted Christian.
Looking at the body of Brueghel’s work in the gallery, I sensed a man who actively wrestled with the issues of his day. I suppose that is what the thinking artist always seeks to do. In this regard, I commend the 2019 anthology to you.
The 2019 stories of life contributors have wrestled with various issues and have given the reader an honest snapshot of their private selves. The topics are diverse from sexuality to ecology, disability to mental health, and much more.
Papa’s Shoes is available from Koorong, Amazon and Book Depository.
If you have had a God-encounter, would you consider sending it in next year as an entry? In preparing your entry, you might be interested in Tabor’s Creative Writing Summer School. This 10-week online course on creative non-fiction runs from 18 November 2019 to 14 February 2020.
For more information, please contact program coordinator, Dr James Cooper on (08) 8373 8777 or by email at jcooper@adelaide.tabor.edu.au.
Congratulations to the winners and contributors who have their stories published. 😊