A love of creating stories, games and entire worlds from his imagination has taken St Raphael’s student Benjamin all the way to the State Library of NSW, after his writing earned a Silver Award in the 2026 WriteOn competition.

Benjamin first claimed the top spot at his school with his imaginative story Unsynchronized Time, earning the opportunity to represent St Raphael’s at state level.

His story then received Silver in Stage 3, earning Benjamin a trip to Sydney for the state awards ceremony and the chance to see his own work published in The Best of WriteOn anthology.

For his mother, Ashlea Overmann, the achievement was an exciting extension of a creative streak Benjamin has always shown at home.

“Benny’s just always been really creative,” she said.

“Even just at home, he loves creating board games and stuff.

"He’ll come out and he’ll be like, ‘I just made up a new game.

"Does anyone want to come?

“With his writing and just creativity in general, he just loves coming up with all this stuff.”

That creativity was put to the test through WriteOn, an annual competition open to NSW primary students from Years 1 to 6.

Students are challenged to create an imaginative piece of no more than 500 words inspired by a supplied stimulus. For 2026, young writers worked from the line: “It was a small thing, but it made a difference.”

Benjamin’s journey through the competition began at St Raphael’s, where he was selected as the school’s first place writer.

There was just one catch, Benjamin did not initially know he had won.

His teacher Raylene Beecher contacted Ashlea with the news but asked her to keep it secret so she could surprise Benjamin with the announcement at school.

“She actually rang me first, and she told me that he had won,” Ashlea said.

“He came first place for the whole school, but she said, ‘I don’t want you to tell Benny ... I’d like to tell him and see the surprise on his face.’”

With school holidays arriving in between, Ashlea was left keeping the secret for about a month.

Eventually Benjamin arrived home with the news his mother had already been waiting weeks to celebrate.

“He came home from school and he had the biggest smile on his face,” Ashlea said.

“He was so proud of himself.

"He’s like, ‘Oh my God, Mum, I won the WriteOn competition for school,’ and I had to act.”

Beecher later rang Ashlea again to tell her just how much the announcement had meant to Benjamin.

“She was like, ‘You should have seen his face. I wish you could have seen his face’,” Ashlea said.

“His face just lit up.

"He was so happy.”

Winning at school was already something worth celebrating, but Unsynchronized Time then progressed to state judging.

The competition’s state entries are assessed by a panel of experienced NSW teachers, including representatives from NESA and different education sectors.

Judges look for qualities including an interesting connection to the stimulus, sustained audience engagement, coherent themes, detailed descriptions, creative language, atmosphere and control of grammar and punctuation.

Benjamin's story impressed enough to receive a Silver Award for Stage 3.

Ashlea said the family was both surprised and enormously proud when they discovered how far his story had gone.

“We were just really shocked, but we were so proud of him as well,” she said.

“When Raylene rang me, I was just like, ‘Oh my God, are you serious?’”

The achievement was particularly exciting for Benjamin’s family because his father, Stephen, also shares his love of creativity and writing.

“Stephen loves all of that creative stuff," Ashlea said.

"Stephen just loves writing as well, so Stephen was really proud.

“He even said, ‘I think he gets it from me.’”

The award also meant Benjamin became a published young author.

Winning entries from the state competition are included in The Best of WriteOn anthology, with Benjamin receiving copies containing his own story during the awards ceremony.

The family travelled to Sydney for the presentation at the State Library of NSW, turning Benjamin’s writing achievement into a memorable family occasion.

“It was so good,” Ashlea said.

“Everything they did was so well done, and inside the State Library was so beautiful.”

Each student received two copies of the anthology featuring their published stories before taking part in a writing workshop.

While the young writers worked together, their parents were given a tour of the library, with a morning tea also held as part of the celebrations.

“It was a really nice day,” Ashlea said.

Perhaps more important than the certificate or published story, however, has been what the recognition has done for Benjamin’s confidence.

Rather than treating the WriteOn success as a one off achievement, he has continued putting his hand up for opportunities to write.

Ashlea said that included recently volunteering to participate in a school activity where students were challenged to create a book in a single day.

“He’s just very confident, and he’ll put his name up for anything,” she said.

“They spent the whole day with other students ... writing this book that they had to do in a day.”

It is a fitting next chapter for a student whose imagination was already evident well before a writing competition placed it in the spotlight.

From inventing board games at home to writing Unsynchronized Time, winning his school competition, receiving Silver at state level and seeing his words published in a book, Benjamin’s creativity has now taken him somewhere few young writers get to experience.

And judging by his willingness to keep putting his hand up for the next writing challenge, his Silver Award may only be the beginning.