Top writers in running for Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards

A group of New Zealanders with extraordinary literary talent have been shortlisted for the 2011 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards, with five finalists in the book, and four in the unpublished manuscript category.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust in conjunction with the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA), offers one of the largest monetary prizes for literature in the country with two awards of $10,000.

The awards recognise both budding and published writers whose work embodies the mind, body, spirit genre with two separate accolades, the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Book Award and the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Unpublished Manuscript Award.

The finalists in the book category are:

• John Bluck, for his work Hidden Country: Having faith in Aotearoa NZ
• Natasha Freeman with The Story of Q
• Wendy Betteridge for It's Your Thoughts That Count
• Anne Powell with Tree of a Thousand Voices, and
• Keith Hill with The God Revolution.

In the unpublished manuscript category,

• Michele Powles is a finalist for The Mind My Father Made
• Alan Dawe with The God Franchise
• Robyn Speed with Chalice, and
• Mary Ballard with The Snowflake Clouds.

Maggie Tarver, Chief Executive Officer for the NZSA, says the 2011 awards attracted an impressive response from New Zealand writers.

"The 2011 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards received a remarkable number of written works, with 31 entries in the published book category, and 57 entries in the unpublished manuscript category," says Ms Tarver.

"Entries were of a very high standard and each of the shortlisted finalists has produced work of an excellent quality which demonstrates they have a natural aptitude for writing and possess a true understanding of the mind, body, spirit category."

Judges for the 2011 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards were publisher, Bob Ross, owner and manager of Pepperleaf Publishing, Gillian Tewsley and founder and owner of Pathfinder Book Shop, Jennifer Eddington.

The Awards will be announced in a ceremony at the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust's own venue, the Hopetoun Alpha in Auckland on Friday 19 August 2011.