Ainsley Burr – YNZW Finalist

Year 12 student Ainsley Burr entered the Young Writers Competition earlier this year where she was later announced a successful finalist, and has since had her story officially published in the YNZW Anthology!

Read all about Ainsley’s experience below:

“A few months ago I entered into my first ever writing competition, coming out with a better result than could ever have been expected. It was the Young New Zealand Writers competition, open to anyone Years 11-13 who could type.

At first, it was challenging to come up with ideas of what to write about within the theme of Scary Tales, but after a few not-so-fabulous ideas, I decided to write what I knew. This is how I created the character of Emma, a five year old with a raging imagination. She sees a ghost in her house, and tells her parents. They don’t know what to do, barely believing her until strange things start happening.

I found it a lot easier to write this story than any of the other avenues I had tried, as it is based on true events. Not everything that I have written happened, but the main things happened to me when I was younger.

I really enjoyed this experience and although my other competition entries have not come to fruition, I will continue to write and enter into everything that comes into my path.”