Stories capture the diversity of individuals and help illustrate our collective experiences. This is especially the case in Western Sydney, where stories are a connecting point for the varied cultures and life experiences within our community. I recognise the contribution of WestWords, who enable the literary pursuits of Western Sydney's emerging writers. WestWords began 15 years ago as a project of Blacktown Council, started by local writers who wanted to better tell the stories of our region. Since then, WestWords has developed 63 partnerships with various institutions and runs nearly 150 activities annually. The 2022 Living Stories Western Sydney writing competition encouraged young western Sydney writers to respond to a theme, Things Unsaid, with a unique literary piece. All 128 winning entries to the competition were showcased in the anthology book, Living Stories 2022 Things Unsaid. The winning entries from the Liverpool LGA were submitted by Liahna Gray, Nabanya Sri Krishnan, Lauren Pham and Lauren Maher. Furthermore, Samuel Kotevski, Anesuishe Masakura and Joanne Macias were highly commended for their entries. I congratulate WestWords and the budding writers of Liverpool on the success of the competition at the recent 2023 ZEST awards.