100 Story Impact

Our 34th Millenium Phototonic Supercomputer on Level 20 was looking a bit lonely. So we set it a challenge: number crunching our creative impact over the last year.

It sputtered into action and was soon shooting out reports that blew our minds!

Thanks to the support of our fabulous Imagination Investors, we have reached more than 4,500 young writers since July last year through during-school, after-school and holiday programs held between the walls of 100 Story Building and in schools and spaces around Victoria.

We’ve partnered with three schools to pilot our innovative Story Hubs program. We’ve extended our programs to Dandenong to engage 500 young writers for our annual fiction publication Early Harvest 7: Dreams. Our super-sleuth teenage Write Club ninjas solved the unsolvable in their three-part audio play ‘The Murder of Jessica Sawyer’. And Book Club stepped beyond Level 87 journeying all the way to the International Congress of Youth Voices in San Francisco.

We also asked our Supercomputer what all this activity meant for the young writers. Were these just numbers, or did they translate into greater engagement with literacy, greater confidence in their own voice, and a stronger sense of belonging for our young writers?

In response, our Supercomputer dug up this feedback from an Early Harvest editor:

‘I felt powerful giving feedback to an author [Australian Children’s Laureate Morris Gleitzman], like my opinion and feedback matters. If your audience is kids, you should be asking children to read your book first! We can give great feedback and make it better!' Oscar K, Grade 6

To top off all this excitement, we’ve noticed some strange rumblings beneath the layers of Level 100. We’re not quite sure what’s happening, but our crew of courageous writers is on the case. We’ll report back soon.