Olivia's the SW's Heywire winner

Wellington Mills teenager Olivia Rourke is the proud recipient of the 2012 Heywire Prize for the South West region.

Picture: Heywire winner Olivia Rourke was thrilled to meet her radio idol Alex Dyson in Canberra.

In her entry, Miss Rourke, 16, described life growing up in regional Australia and the beauty of her home, Kingtree Winery Bed and Breakfast.

‘‘I wrote about life in the country and how I will miss it when I move to Perth for university next year,’’ Miss Rourke said.

Heywire is an annual competition and forum for young Australians aged 16-22 living in regional parts of the country to voice their stories and opinions about life and the issues that affect them.

Entrants have the option of submitting in audio, visual or text formats. As a winner of Heywire, Miss Rourke received an all-expenses paid trip to Canberra for the Heywire Youth Summit, held earlier this month.

‘‘It was heaps of fun,’’ she said.

During the week-long summit the regional winners took part in a forum to discuss issues affecting young people and then presented to Senate members who came along to the forum especially to hear what the young people had to say.

Aside from all the hard work, Miss Rourke still found the time to do a little sightseeing at the Australian War Memorial and National Museum and even met her radio idol.

‘‘I got to meet Alex Dyson from Triple J radio,’’ she said.

‘‘That was definitely a highlight.’’