Blessed beyond measure is how I describe our young writer ministry in conjunction with Christian Today as we draw towards 2018 a numbers of fresh faces have joined this amazing group of young people.
Fresh young people
Anneliese Farrerr — Melbourne
Ben Kruzins — Ocean Shores
Shannon Munyard — Adelaide
Hannah Steele Thiem — Sydney
Amy Manners — Adelaide
Christopher Harris — Melbourne
Amy Ching — Auckland
Hannah Edwards — Brisbane
Returning in 2018 after a break
Emma Seabrook — Melbourne
David Luschwitz — Walgett
Meenah Chandra — Sydney
Tim Everton — Adelaide
Stephen Urmston — Sydney
Danielle Jones — West Indies
Every year we see this increase and subsequently a number move on.
Some are changing weeks
The Press Service International young writer program with Christian Today functions within a 5 week cycle and each of those weeks has a coordinator and an editor.
When Christian Today New Zealand (CTNZ) was established in February this year and therefore the Kiwi young writer Week 5 was transferred to CTNZ, we needed to take young writers from Weeks 1–4 to make up another Week 5.
Now in 2018, the Internationals relocated to other weeks with the introduction on CTNZ will be moved back to the internationals Week 1
Christina Jones
Beckie Bowie
Mike Burr
Expecting additional young people
We are expecting additional young people, these are 18–30 year olds, and once they reach 31, they move into the over 30's group till 40 when they become senior writers.
The program focuses on young writers where these young people are incorporated into the system and then proceed from there – we do not accept into this particular program those over 31.
The 2018 numbers at the current time are as follows
Week 1 — 16 young writers
Week 2 — 13 young writers
Week 3 — 12 young writers
Week 4 — 12 young writers
Week 5 — 12 young writers
Sport writers — 1 each week
IT writer
New Zealand — 5 weeks of one young writer published each day = 25
The Internationals are from England, USA, Canada, West Indies, China, South Africa, Philippines.
Who makes it all work
Week Cordinators: Russell Modlin, Tom Anderson, Bridget Brenton, Ashley Menelaws
Week Editors: Emma Seabrook, Rebecca Moore, Tim Price, Aira Chilcott, Liam Denny
Kiwi young writers have Irenie How in Christchurch as both the coordinator and the editor.
There are 25 panellist who mark the first 5 cycles of articles for the annual awards — Internationals, Australians, New Zealanders, Sport writers — along with two statisticians.
There is a range of other helpers to ensure the entire program functions smoothly. There are 6 tutors available and 2 theologians for young writer enquiries. We have people plan the annual young writers conference and those who financially support our literary program.
To all this we give God the glory — the Lord's hand has been upon this mission. At the 2017 ARPA conference awards night in Auckland, this Press Service International young writer ministry courtesy of Sophia Sinclair was given a long hearty hand clap! The professional Christian publications are encouraged to republish these young people and they do so with the joy of the Lord.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html