Competition

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
WATCH FOR UPDATES AT THE END OF MAY!

Read below to find out about prizes, this year’s judges and more…

PRIZES

First $1,000

Second $400

Third $200

JUDGES

The 2022 judges for the national competition are the acclaimed Anne Kennedy and Kiri Piahana-Wong.

Anne Kennedy by Robert Cross 1 Anne Kennedy is a poet, fiction writer, screenplay editor and teacher. Recent books are The Sea Walks into a Wall (AUP), Moth Hour (AUP) and The Ice Shelf (VUP). Awards and fellowships include the 2021 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement, the Montana NZ Book Award for Poetry, and the University of Iowa International Fall Residency. Anne has taught creative writing at the University of Hawai`i and Manukau Institute of Technology. She lives in Auckland.

Kiri Piahana-Wong (Ngāti Ranginui) is a poet and editor, and she is the publisher at Anahera Press. Kiri’s poetry has appeared in over forty journals and anthologies, including Landfall, Essential NZ Poems, Poetry NZ, Puna Wai Kōrero, Tātai Whetū: Seven Māori Women Poets in Translation, A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children, Dear Heart: 150 New Zealand Love Poems, Vā: Stories by Women of the Moana and more. She has one full-length collection, Night Swimming (2013), and a second, Tidelines, is forthcoming. Kiri also works with poetry and fiction as a book reviewer, manuscript assessor, anthology editor, NZSA mentor and project manager. She lives in Whanganui with her family.

The international youth competition is guest judged in 2022 by Jack Remiel Cottrell and curated by the youth journal fingers comma toes.

download Jack Remiel Cottrell (Ngāti Rangi), an itinerant flash fiction and short story writer with a sideline as a volunteer rugby referee. He was runner-up in the Bath Flash Fiction’ Award’s 2018 Novella-in-Flash competition, and was shortlisted for a Sir Julius Vogel Award in 2020. Jack’s collection Ten Acceptable Acts of Arson and other very short stories was published by Canterbury University Press in August 2021.