Awards/Residencies

Applications for the final year in the three-year fiction editing mentor programme are due by 30 May 2012. Experienced editors who wish to develop their skills in fiction editing can apply to edit a manuscript in publication by an established publisher under mentoring from one of New Zealand's top fiction editors.

In the past two years, the programme has funded mentors Jane Parkin and Anna Rogers to work with four editors on books published by Random House, Penguin and Huia Publishers.

Editors selected for the programme must have at least four or five years’ experience in the book trade, excellent editing skills and a demonstrated aptitude for literary editing.

To apply, provide:

Text Publishing is calling for entries for the annual Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, valued at $10,000.

Published and unpublished writers of all ages are eligible to enter the prize with works of fiction or non-fiction. Submissions must be received between 30 April and 1 June 2012.

Judged by a panel of editors from Text Publishing, the winner will receive a publishing contract and a $10,000 advance against royalties.

Initiated in 2008, the Text Prize aims to discover wonderful new books for young adults and children by Australian and New Zealand writers. In 2012 the Text Prize will celebrate its fifth anniversary year.

Previous winners of the Text Prize are:

Two CLL/NZSA Research Grants are now open for application from writers of fiction or non-fiction.

The first of the grants will be for a fellowship at the Stout Centre in Wellington.
This grant offers a study at the Stout Research Centre for up to three months, access to VUW facilities (Internet, printers, library, secretarial services, photocopying and the kitchen), as well as the $3,500 award.

The open research grant, also for a $3,500 award for either fiction or non-fiction, will be awarded to a project-based application where the applicant is able to specify where the research is to take place.

Previous winners

Following on from the success of the past two years, we are pleased to announce that the Puffin Short Story Awards, in association with Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust, are back for 2012!

The competition is open to children in school years 4 - 11, and the fabulous prize on offer is an Apple iPad for each category winner.

Please visit the Puffin Short Story Awards web page for full details and to read last year's brilliant winning entries.

The NZSA Manuscript Assessment Programme is now open.  This annual programme offers an exceptional opportunity for writers to have their completed manuscript evaluated by an experienced assessor.

An assessment assists an author to improve their work by providing a constructive, detailed report on the project’s strengths and weaknesses, and offering suggestions on how the author might move the project forward.  

A selection panel will choose 13 successful applicants who will be matched with an assessor who specialises in the genre in which the applicant writes. The programme is open to writers of poetry, fiction, short fiction, plays, non-fiction, memoir and children’s fiction (excluding picture books.)

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Awards, in association with the NZ Society of Authors, are now open for applications. The awards aim to recognise excellence in authorship for literature in the mind, body and spirit, or ‘new-age’ genre.