The 15 Over 31s moved to senior writers will now be included in the annual awards as a separate group at the remonstration of senior writer and panellist Aira Chilcott.
There is a back ground to this. The Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) presented their premier award The Gutenberg to this young writer ministry – Press Service International - in Christchurch, 6 September 2019.
This raised a question in the mind of Christian Today Editor David Chang - he is keen that the young writers to stay-on into the Over 31s and then become ‘senior writers’ rather than bringing in writers of more mature years.
While in Adelaide prior to Christmas at the young writer dinner on Monday 23 December, this was raised with Adelaide’s Justin and Liana Monaghan, that rather than moving on as Over 31s, staying on and sharing a ‘senior writer’ spot – each of them writing every 10 weeks rather than once every 5 weeks.
The primary focus of the young writers is the 18-30 age group and we welcome enquiries of young people to an international column with Christian Today.
Moving to senior writers
This has led over the past six months of fifteen Over 31s moving into the senior writer ranks. The senior writers were originally set up for those young writers wanting to continue writing but were over the Over 31s age group.
Moreover, a number of the panellists wanted to write also as an encouragement to the young writers, so in effect, the senior writers were an aberration to the young writer program.
Therefore for many years we have enjoyed the encouragement of senior writers who fell into one of the other group and an occasional outsider slipped in due to a variety of circumstances.
Over 31s moving into senior writers
There are three groups
Kiwis
Emma McGeorge - Auckland
Esther Koh - Wellington
Mussita Ng - Wellington
Internationals
Francesca Tavares - West Indies
Kimberley Salmon - West Indies
Josh Robbie - South Africa
Australians
Peter Brookshaw - Melbourne
Phil Hall - Melbourne
Neville Hiatt - Melbourne
Justin Monaghan - Adelaide
Liana Monaghan - Adelaide
Jo Fuller - Sunshine Coast
Michael Dahlenburg - Adelaide
Tim Everton - Adelaide
Total 15
Panellists
Senior writers – post Over 31s
Bridget Brenton - Brisbane
Peter Bentley - Editor ACC Sydney
John Lemmon - Melbourne
Paul Cornish - NZ PSI
Ben Campbell - AE Mission
The Connect person who collates these Senior Writer – Post Over 31s BEST articles is Susan Barnes of Albury, a senior writer and coordinator for Week 5 young writers.
Press Service International is looking for additional young writers 18-30 years of age - timeout@bushorchestra.com or chin wag with Mark Tronson on 0419 917 713