Me, My Culture and NSW
Competition
2020 Winners
announced
1st Prize _ $300
2nd Prize - $200
3rd Prize - $100
Highly Commended - $50
Me, My Culture and NSW
Woke has had the privilege of partnering with Multicultural NSW to create the ‘Me, My Culture and NSW’ competition. Our aim was to give an opportunity for young people to celebrate diversity, share their culture and join us in combating cultural stereotypes and racism. We can definitely say that we have achieved this!
Our competition was a huge success! We had hundreds of participants, whose entries were extremely insightful and of the upmost quality. We received so many outstanding entries and as the calibre of submissions was so high, we have created two new categories: Highly Commended and Honourable Mention.
We also want to take this opportunity to invite any young person who’s passionate about social justice to write for Woke. Have a look at our writing guidelines and don’t hesitate to contact us via our email ourwoke@gmail.com, we’d love to hear from you!
Now, we’re excited to announce the winners of the competition below!
Writing
1st Place
The Coexistence of Two Selves
By Munira Ahmed
Baulkham Hills HS
2nd Place
The Asian Voice
By Yuden Sae-Ueng
Nothmead Creative & Performing Arts HS
3rd Place
Falling Apart at the Seams
By Sidra Afroz
Penrith HS
Highly Commended
Writing Beyond: the Terrorist & the Bollywood Dancer
By Aalia Syed
North Sydney Girls HS
Highly Commended
Ext. In a Botanical Garden
By Tianna
.
Highly Commended
9am In My Grandmother's Dining Room
By Josephine Sarayar
Girraween HS
Honourable Mention
Old Home, New Home
By Maria Kakali
Willoughby Girls HS
Honourable Mention
We Can’t Breathe
By Ethan Lin
Fort Street HS
Honourable Mention
Woolworths & The Asian Store
By Jason
Girraween HS
Writing - Shortlisted entries recognised by the editors
The Editors of Woke have further recognised the following work for their amazing merit as well!
You Stole my Pride
By Helena Chen
North Sydney Girls HS
I Am So Sorry
By Sarah Algarawi
.
How is Australia?
By Rachel Jung
Ryde Secondary College
Red to Black
By Aishani Sivashankar
Penrith HS
The hate you give
By Dominion Ojo
Arthur Phillp HS
Conscious
By Oliver Burke
Wyndham College
Photography
1st Place
Multiculturalism
By Khadijah
Khanh Linh Nguyen
Maryam Rizwan
Marzia Mahzabin
Beverly Hills Girls HS
2nd Place
A Pretty Hidden Face
By Isha Patel
The Ponds HS
3rd Place
Two Sides of Me
By Cerys Maddox
Girraween HS
Highly Commended
Does Colour = Culture?
By Cassandra King
Rooty Hill HS
Honourable Mention
Beauty is Ambiguous
By Safa Al-bekaa
East Hills Girls Technology HS
Honourable Mention
Aussie Indian
By Hitesh Bhuta
.
Honourable Mention
Striving for the Dream
By Jodie
.
Honourable Mention
Beauty is Only Skin Deep
By Talia Cordi
Erina HS
Film
1st Place
Audition: A Film about Racism
By Robert Lin
Prairiewood HS
2nd Place
Bear and Kev
By Jeremy Blewitt
Ryde Secondary College
Fairfield High School's (Intensive English Centre) Poems
We would also like to congratulate Fairfield High School - Intensive English Centre for being the school with the most submissions. Many of the poems we received were from recently arrived migrant and refugee students from all around the world, and we would like to share their emotions and experiences. They are beautiful to read.
Strive for happiness
My heart was upset like the night sky without stars
Leaving my country was a nightmare
My destiny tossed me across the oceans
Scared to begin in a new country
Looking across Australia’s blue ocean
My dreams hugs me closer
Rays of the sunshine filled my soul in hope
My hope was like a lifeboat to me
I thought that music was only friend, but I found a friend
I don’t grieve about the past
Australia became my most beautiful sunshine star in the night sky
I believe life always hands me a new chance to shine bright like a star
By Natalia Yousif
My Culture poem
My culture is sharing and caring
My culture is unfair
My culture is the smell of dolma seducing you
My culture is following and protesting a rotten government
My culture is dancing khiga as a uniting dance
My culture is living in its worst days
My culture is a blinding amount of generosity
My culture is a melody
My culture is the taste of meat and bread in every meal
My culture is slowly shrinking around the world
But my culture will never die