The Press Service International Australian young writer program with Christian Today was initiated in 2010 with a daily sports young writers and later that year developed to 'Comment' writing by the young writers that joined the program.
In 2012 the New Zealand young writer component was initiated in August of that year, and then last year we found we had a growing number of international young writers.
Some of these on the mission field, others had moved to live in another country, some returned to live in their birth country, and so through a series of contacts, last year a full Week of the five week cycle was devoted to these internationals.
In effect last year there were four separate groups of young writers in the program: Australia, New Zealand, Internationals and Sport.
The Process
The Australian young writers come from every state including Tasmania. The top five last year as marked by the Australian Panellists for the 2014 Basil Sellers Award came from Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.
There is a fair balance between young men and young women and broad representation across the States.
Each of these young Australians are published once every 5 weeks (which works to be once a month) and they each write 10 articles in the January to December calendar year. They are able to write on whatever they wish and this provides a wide spectrum. Week 1 has the international columnists.
Weeks 2-5 have both Australian and New Zealand columnists and these Weeks 2-5 each has its own coordinator – sends out reminders and collates the articles for their respective week.
This is a list circulated to prospective young writers for the program:
Topics our columnists add a Christian perspective in their writing:
- Popular culture (could be music, film, books, fashion, sport - this might be in the form of a review, or it could be a reflection on something that has been seen, heard or read)
- Lifestyle (this could be health, parenting, work-life balance, etc)
- Church life (a fresh take on what's going on in our churches, what's working and that others might be inspired by, what doesn't seem to be working and why that might be, emerging trends, etc)
- Environmental issues
- Inter-faith dialogue
- Post-modern apologetics
- In the news (commentary about something topical that's in the public eye, theological and philosophical reflections)
- Education (pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, post graduate, trades, training, education politics)
- Soul food (this could be devotional reflections on scripture, plus personal reflections on matters of faith)
- Soapbox (persuasive opinion pieces)
- Current events and the bible - prophecy, the prophetic
- Spiritual habits (for those who want to reflect on spiritual disciplines in their own lives)
- Social justice (legal, domestic, international, aid, politics)
- Modern Morals and Ethics (Classical)
- Personal experiences (where people share a little of their story to interest, amuse, challenge or help others, perhaps about lessons learned from dating, depression, grief, relationships, singleness etc)
- Ethical challenges - or 'hot topics' (where people reflect on issues such as euthanasia, suicide, sexuality, etc).
Australian young writers
It is easier to list the Australian under their Week coordinators:
Week 2 - Coordinator Russell Modlin, Sunshine Coast
Meenal Chandra – Sydney
Charley Goiris – Melbourne
Thomas Devenish – Hobart
Natahanel Yates – Perth
Tim Robertson – Sydney
Alex Gillespie – Sydney
Sarah Urmston – Melbourne
Week 3 - Coordinator Laura Veloso, Melbourne
Hannah Amos – Perth
Russell Modlin – Sunshine Coast
Zach Radloff - Gold Coast
Tisha Williams – Indigenous
Rebecca Moore – Sunshine Coast
Daniel Stott - Gold Coast
David Luschwitz – Sydney
Jo Fuller – Brisbane
Week 4 - Coordinator Natalie Chu, Sydney
Jeremy Dover – Melbourne
Laura Veloso – Melbourne
Christopher Archibald - Sydney
Bridget Brenton – Brisbane
Clarissa Yates – Perth
Sam Manchester – Sydney
Belinda Croft – Melbourne
Jimmy Young – Melbourne
Danielle Carney – Gold Coast
Tim Everton - Adelaide
Week 5 – Cordinator Sophia Sinclair, Christchurch
Sam Gillespie – Sydney
Stephen Urmston – Melbourne
Josh Robbie – Gold Coast
Blaine Packer – Launceston
Sarah Young – Melbourne
Sam James – Sydney
Helen Nicholson – Sunshine Coast
Benjamin James - Melbourne
Sport writers
Each of the weeks in the Cycle there is a sport writer:
Week 1 – Josh Hinds, Gold Coast (International Sport)
Week 2 – Jeremy Dover, Melbourne (and coordinator)
Week 3 – Annemarie de Villiers
Week 4 – David Goodwin, Melbourne (Cricket)
Week 5 – Wesley Tronson, Gold Coast (EPL soccer)
All these Australian young writers are featured on the Christian Article Registry Depository (C.A.R.D.) in order for editors around the world to connect with them.
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.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html