Chinese-born Xiang (Emma) Lei has won the University of Canberra’s children’s book competition.

She often takes her three children up and around Mount Ainslie and found the native bush and animal life perfect inspiration for her first children’s book “The Tallest Tree”.

The UC graphic design student both wrote and illustrated the story of two young children who have an exciting adventure on Mount Ainslie as they search through the scribbly gums to find a magical tree that their grandfather saw when he was young.

She drew on historic photos of the area which provides a fitting Centenary mark as the story considers the city’s growth and changes over the decades.

The UC’s children’s book competition was last year opened to the general public to celebrate the Centenary. It is usually confined to just writing and graphic design students. Ironic, perhaps, that a graphic design student once again took out the prize despite the open field.

Competition organiser and UC College lecturer Jane Cassidy said the shortlisted entries of the 45 submissions were exceptional, with local high school and university students, published authors, illustrators, architects and the general public taking part.

“This competition has found many ways to celebrate our special places. We are a city that is much more than a group of national monuments, and we are proud of it,” Ms Cassidy said.

The winners, who share in $2000 prize money, were selected by a panel of UC alumni and academics as well as published authors and illustrators of children’s picture books. A selection of shortlisted and winning entries will be on display in the International Learning and Teaching Centre Library, Level A, Building 5 for two weeks.

Meanwhile, we eagerly await a publication deal for Ms Lei as the story is quite lovely and bound to be a hit with Canberra’s young readers.

Is the Handmade Market a victim of its own success?

So fabulous are these regular markets that the quest for a locally-created bespoke design can easily resemble the quest to get to the front of a mosh pit.

No I am not saying the largely female crowd which flocks to this event is anything less than elegantly behaved, it’s just that you should never put an array of beautiful items on sale and not expect some intense jostling, sorry, interest. To that end, organisers are offering the most committed shoppers (we know who we are, don’t we?) a chance to avoid the crush through an exclusive VIP event.

Handmade Market Facebook fans, e-news readers and website readers will be allowed early access to the merchandise between 9 and 10am next Sunday when they show their special printed voucher.

Then at 10am, it’s bedlam as usual.

Beating the crowds, and getting a park near the Convention Centre are all good incentives to giving up a Sunday lie-in, but rest assured, there will be enough to go around even if you don’t get in first. And the best thing about Handmade? You can always put an order in with the lovely talented stall holders who are usually happy to get first-hand support and feedback from their customers.

There will be over 150 stalls of Australian made goods with designers coming from around the country to offer you furniture, homewares, outdoors goods, shoes, jewellery, children’s wear, ladies and men’s wear. Also lots of delicious food on offer to eat or take home.

The markets will run on March 8 and 9 at the National Convention Centre, 31 Constitution Ave Canberra from 10am-4pm both days.

Everyone seems to be going paleo or sugar-free with their eating these days, but I’m just glad to see a healthy option breaking into the fast-food chain.

THR1VE seems to be, well, thriving, in its little corner of the Canberra Centre, opposite Supabarn.

It preaches to the paleo crowd - low sugar, lots of animal protein, no carbs or grains.

But it seems to be drawing interest from a wide variety of hungry hordes happy to take a healthy option even if they aren’t hard-core paleo people.

The more people eschewing a Big Mac and fries for grass-fed beef on a sweet potato of cauliflower mash, the better.

You can upsize that order with some brown rice and wash it down with any number of vitamin-filled concoctions such as the Exotic Date (dates, coconut butter, green coffee, cardamom and cinnamon).

Frankly, the smoothies can be an acquired taste, but they surely do you the world of food.

THR1VE has enlisted the support of former Master Chef contestant and ‘The Healthy Cook’ author Dan Churchill who is as good an advertisement for paleo eating as any.

The 24-year-old was in Canberra on Friday to visit the store and has a growing following on his blog as well as being busy promoting his cookbooks and fitness coaching business.

“I set out to show that it is just as easy to cook tasty food that is good for you as it is to cook food that isn’t.”

And if you don’t have time to cook it, you can at least order it to go.

Imagine being allergic to food. Imagine never eating again.

Young Canberra woman Melita Schloss and her mother, Helen, are preparing to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise awareness and hope for people suffering from allergic gastro-intestinal disorders.

Naming their fundraising campaign ‘8climbs4ausEE’, the pair will scale all 19,341 feet of Mt Kilimanjaro in 2015. Their training includes parts of the Kokoda Track and Mt Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea as well as Canberra’s local hills and mountains.

Ms Schloss has a rare digestive disorder, Eosinophilic oesophagitis, which is in a group of allergic gastro-intestinal disorders where the body’s immune system treats food as a harmful entity, or a foreign invader.

Some patients follow a restricted diet; others stop eating all food and have to live on a special liquid diet. The social, emotional and psychological effects can be staggering.

Ms Schloss is one of an estimated 1 in 10,000 children in Australia with EoE and has missed years of school and social activities after being diagnosed with EoE at the age of 9.

She has also been battling depression as a result of years of riding the unpredictable rollercoaster of EoE.

Her mum hopes that by reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro and other climbs and treks along the way, Melita will find more self-belief and direction, and perhaps inspire others with similar chronic illnesses and disabilities.

Helen can be contacted at helenschloss@yahoo.com.au and donations can be made at www.mycause.com.au/page/8climbs4ausee. You can find the team at Facebook: http://bit.ly/8climbs4ausee-facebook and Twitter: @8climbs4ausEE

Well done to the women who donated - and bought - more than 1000 articles of clothing in the Best Dressed Weekend last week. Not only was it a chance to score a fabulous piece of corporate clothing for a song, but the $15,000 proceeds of the sale of donated clothing went to support Communities@Work’s Care&Share program, which provides food, clothing and essential services for Canberrans experiencing hardship.

Special mention goes to the always snappy dresser, Member for Canberra Gai Brodtmann, who gathered more than 60 items from her parliamentary colleagues for The Best Dressed Weekend’s VIP Shopping Experience.

A little coy about who exactly was donating to the “Parliamentary Collection” Ms Brodtmann said the pollies were great supporters of the program and of recycled clothing.

Whatever you have planned for tomorrow? Cancel it.

If you’ve got kids, or even if you don’t, the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Australia will come alive with a program of free art workshops and performances for children and families.

In its tenth year, the Sculpture Garden Sunday provides an opportunity for families to enjoy art together and more importantly, a rollicking good day in the fresh air.

There are an incredible array of activities, including painting, drawing, basket weaving and sand drawing as well as the opportunity to contribute to the creation of several installations throughout the Sculpture Garden.

‘Forrest Gump’ the Alpaca will be in attendance, with drop-in workshops facilitated by a range of local artists and gallery educators.

The workshops are suitable for children of all ages with all materials supplied and many recycled and recyclable. Again, the entire thing is free.

A key feature of the program this year paper flower making workshops, tying into the Gallery’s program of events for Enlighten this year. Make a flower and bring it back for Fiesta on the weekend of 7 and 8 March. The flowers will be hung at Fiesta, in the Gallery exterior forecourt, to create a Latin-American street theme inspired by the current blockbuster Gold and the Incas: Lost worlds of Peru.

BYO picnic and blanket to enjoy live music by Dr Stovepipe under the trees or support the Mulga Scouts through their sausage sizzle. Note: Sculpture Garden Sunday will be cancelled in wet weather. Check for updates on their website.

Dragons Abreast are celebrating their 15th year of fun, friendship and fitness on Friday 28 March with a celebration dinner at Australian National University House at 7.00pm. Anna Wellings Booth, founder of the Canberra group, is hoping former members will come to celebrate the milestone. If you would like to be part of a fun evening email canberra@dragonsabreast.com.au with your contact details and someone will be in touch with you. RSVP (with money) by 10 March.