The winner of the Australia-wide $500 Dorothea Mackellar award is a prodigious writer and forward planner. The Campbell High School Year 7 student won the Years 7 to 9 category of the poetry competition with her poem titled Night Song.

‘‘When I was in Year 2 a teacher told me to be a writer and I took it to heart,’’ the Ainslie girl said.

Her 26-line piece described how she felt like an intruder as she watched the night sky while camping with her family in the country. The judges praised what they called a ‘‘quiet poem’’.

‘‘[It] needs to be read slowly to savour its depths,’’ the judges wrote. ‘‘All of us have felt the wonder of the night sky and this poem not only brings it to life in a fresh way but brings us close to the mystery of it.’’

This week Beth also discovered she had topped her school in a writing test. She was the only student at her school from Years 7 to 10 to receive a high distinction in the international competitions and assessments for schools writing exam.

She has already written her first 15,000-word novel and is in the process of composing a second.

‘‘I like to read a lot of fantasies and science fiction,’’ she said.

The ACT was well represented in the Dorothea Mackellar awards. Lanyon High School’s Emily Kane was named runner-up in the Years 10 to 12 category.