At the Young Adult Author Rendezvous, we believe in fostering a love for writing in young people. One of our own, LJ Higgins, had the pleasure of judging a teen writing contest in September. We’re going to showcase each of the three winners. Enjoy the third story below.

A bit about the contest:

In September, Calliope, a small town in Central Queensland, Australia, held it’s annual Country Carnival. As part of the Carnival, YAAR Author L J Higgins was invited to judge a writing competition. She was blown away by the amazing entries, and along with two other judges, they chose one winner from each age category.

The Kanga Wola Fox and the Great Outback

By: Janay Jeynes

Friends Billy and Bridy set out on an adventure to find the magical kanga wola fox. The legend was, that the kanga wola fox granted wishes to whoever found him. They were cautious about what they were doing but they wanted the best for their loved ones. Billy and Bridys family were homeless, they had a couple of pairs of clothes and a handful of food. They lived in a poor country town of about two hundred other people, many with children under three years old. They wanted to help their town, friends, and family by finding the kanga wola fox.

They began to pack for their journey. They’d have to put up with the hot sun beaming down on their backs and the long tiring walk. Before they left everyone gathered around the town hall and wished them good luck. They began walking but before they could take one step an elderly couple grabbed Billy’s shoulders and warned him about the kangaroos. They mentioned that the creature was ancient and fierce. Billy thought the people were loopy. They told him that the creature lives in the middle of the forest about a kilometre from the river. Billy and Bridy were confused, they had been told that there were no kanga wola foxes in the area at all. They didn’t know what to expect but they were soon to find out. Off they went on their adventure.

Billy and Bridy had nearly reached the end of town. Billy had already started to list the things he wanted. Billy wanted an education, food and a home to live in. Bridy wanted the same things as Billy but she thought that was a little bit selfish so she didn’t mention any thing about wishes. When they had an hour to go on foot, Billy reached into the backpack looking for the water but they had forgotten to pack it. They came to a sudden stop then looked at each other and looked back and all they could see was little houses in the distance. They didn’t talk for half an hour then their mouths became sticky and dry. Suddenly they dropped and crawled. 

They told themselves half an hour left. They saw a puddle of water they wondered if it was real or not. They began to crawl faster and faster they touched the water and they mentioned that it wasn’t water it was air Bridy jumped in and floated back up and she told Billy to jump in. Billy had a gut feeling about it, he thought it was a trap. It took ten seconds to reach the bottom. They looked around and saw black shadows. They were frighted. A big kanga wola fox pounced out of nowhere. They didn’t expect to find it this close to the edge. It seemed the kanga wola fox didn’t expect them.

The kanga wola fox circled them, they could sense its fear and anger the fox spoke with his deep crackle voice, ‘‘why are you here, and what do you want?

Billy and Bridy stuttered with their words, “w.. w.. we are here to get wishes from you and maybe a little more.”

The fox laughed and laughed. He claimed he retired a year ago because no one needed him. But Billy and Bridy didn’t care, they knew he could do anything so they just stayed stubborn.

They looked up and saw that he looked sad so they asked, ‘‘what’s wrong?”

He replied in a soft voice saying, “I am lonely, and it’s been like this for many years.” 

Billy and Bridy were upset for what had happened so they turned and gave each other the thumbs up.

Bridy said, “well, we will make a deal if you give our whole town wishes you can come with us forever and you won’t be lonely.”

They had arrived at the small country town and everybody stared and clapped. Billy and Bridy got carried to the town hall and two little kids took the fox. Everyone started to line up for their wishes. The fox got upset because he realised that most people didn’t have a home to live in.

After he served them all he wanted to make wishes for him so he stood in front of a mirror and wished for a family and a name he wanted three family members and he wanted his name to be Sparks.

The next morning Sparks woke up he saw three foxes standing in the middle of the room. They ran up to him and hugged him. He was confused for what had happened but at the last minute, he remembers that he wished for a family. Sparks was proud of the achievements that he had created. Later on in the night, the town had organised a surprise party. Sparks was wondering where everybody was so he went home and when he opened the door everyone was there they had told Sparks it was for what he had done for the community.

On that night they all enjoyed themselves and they had the best times of their lives.

 

About the author:

Janay Jeynes placed first in the 6-12yr category in the Calliope Country Carnival Writing Competition.

Hello, my name is Janay and I am in year seven. I have recently moved to Central Queensland, Australia, and I am already off to a good start. My story took lots of effort and tears. It took me over a week and lots of reminders for me to write my story. I would like to thank the judges for choosing my story for first place in the Calliope Writing Competition, and I hope that everyone who reads my story enjoys it as well.    

Read the first story HERE.

Read the second story HERE.

This post was created by Michelle Lynn

The contest was judged by LJ Higgins

Don’t forget to check out more posts by the Young Adult Author Rendezvous HERE.