Windang team effort scores book award
Angelina Maranesi, the author, was inspired by her childhood memories growing up in Windang, a small coastal town in the Illawarra
Thanks to Windang Public School principal Loreta Kocovska for sharing this news.
Local picture book The Island and the Bridge took home a silver award at 2025's national ABLE Golden Book Awards. But this is no ordinary children's book and the award was a collective achievement.
The Island and the Bridge was created and supported by community and local businesses, a local author, an artist and 200 students from Windang Public School.
Angelina Maranesi, the author, was inspired by her childhood memories growing up in Windang, a small coastal town in the Illawarra. It was when she began working at Windang Public School teaching Italian that she pitched her idea to the principal and later she met Melissa Ritchie a talented local artist.
Together they set out to make The Island and the Bridge a reality. Melissa and Angelina organised workshops in the school library where groups of students , guided by Melissa created artwork for the book.
The youngest groups painted the backgrounds: sky, sea, sun, sand, rocks and grass. The middle groups painted the sea creatures, houses, trees and vehicles. The older groups painted the people. Melissa put the artworks together to create the final illustrations.
Author Angelina Maranesi at the awards night
The project gave students valuable experience in project-based learning as well as a sense of pride and accomplishment that can only be taught through experience. The Island and the Bridge was launched in October 2024 and is now available in both Shellharbour and Wollongong City libraries.
Angelina led the project and wanted it to be a collective work, saying: “I wanted to create this picture book collectively to make kids proud of where they come from."
The Island and the Bridge is a fictional story that includes local history and knowledge. It is about a community coming together to build a bridge to unite the worlds of the two main characters, just as the Windang community came together to create this picture book.
Angelina and Melissa have forged a friendship and partnership and continue on their journey to publish their next book.
