Eden Marine High School student Brydie Nuss-Wilson has had her creative skill recognised with her poem ‘I Am Perfection’ accepted for publication in Oz Kids in Print.
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Because of this, Brydie is now also eligible for the 2018 Young Writers Award.
Oz Kids in Print is a magazine designed to promote and support children’s literacy and artistic talents.
The magazine is distributed nationally and published online. Oz Kids in Print is an initiative of the Australian Children’s literacy board.
Every year OzKids offers children and young people the opportunity to submit creative work for publication which is assessed by a panel of authors.
Brydie was inspired to submit her work to Oz Kids in Print after her mum prompted her to seek out avenues for publication of her many creative works.
“I had lots of things on my laptop and mum encouraged me to submit,” Brydie said.
Brydie’s poem addresses the issue of body image and the societal expectations placed on young women to be “perfect”.
“It addresses aspects of living up to standards and feeling like you are not good enough,” she said.
These are also issues very close to Brydie and her family. “My sister was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 17,” she said.
For Brydie, writing this poem was a way of thinking through the many issues young women like her sister encounter when faced with unrealistic societal exceptions.
“This was a different way of thinking about society’s standards,” she said.
Brydie enjoyed writing across different genres but said poetry is an effective medium for expressing and navigating life’s more challenging experiences.
“Poetry is a more dramatic form of writing,” she said. “Writing is like therapy”.
Eden Marine High teacher-librarian Jasmine Lefel was notified by email of Brydie’s achievement and said she was pleased to see such a conscientious and humble student recognised.
“It was nice to see a capable, quiet and lovely girl, who spends a lot of time in the library, receive this recognition,” she said.
Ms Lefel acknowledged publishing work that addresses deeply personal issues is an extraordinary act.
“Brydie took a personal issue and turned it into a publication that will be read nationally – that takes a lot of guts,” she said.
To receive national exposure for your work is also an achievement for an aspiring writer like Brydie, Ms Lefel said. “If Brydie gains momentum from this, then that will be great for her.”
Brydie is also pleased that her work and her important message will potentially reach a broad audience.
“I am pretty lucky to have people seeing it.”
