Abbie Brown and Kenneth Fugisang were announced winners among hundreds across the country amid a national competition that challenged students to write and illustrate a picture book about a safe rail journey.

The grade four students authored and illustrated The Best Excursion Ever in a soft cover and e-book that has been lodged with the Australian National Library and the Launceston Library.

Teacher Roslyn Faulkner was blown away by their top storytelling abilities.

“I was absolutely gobsmacked. I thought this story has got sparkle,” she said.

“It grabbed me as a reader and was very entertaining.”

The criteria for the book required a safety element, resolving a problem, credible happenings and a storyline introducing characters and a setting.

The illustrations had to show part of the story with clear facial descriptions and stances to cover their moods. 

Ms Faulkner was full of praise her students for their research on train travel, both Abbie and Kenneth starting behind the pace comparably to mainland authors.

“They don’t have that life experience of travelling on trains regularly,” she said.

“They had to use words like platform, which we don’t use that as a common word in our vocabulary.”

The winning students received gift vouchers for the book, while a $500 book voucher was awarded to Norwood Primary School.