QWF Writing Competition 2023

ANNA-MARIE CHIN ARCHITECTS WRITING COMPETITION 2023

The prompts for the 2023 competition have been released! Scroll down to find them, as well as the information on how to enter.

As part of the 2023 Queenstown Writers Festival, a 48-hour writing competition will run over the weekend. It’s open to residents of Otago and Southland, encouraging writers from the lower South Island to feel the fear and do it anyway.

The three prompts for Open and Rangatahi entrants (plus a bonus fourth one suggested by one of the judges!) were released on Friday 11 November at 5pm (see below, tap on the image to see a larger version). Entrants are invited to select one prompt and write an original response of no more than 800 words. The response may be in the form of fiction or non-fiction and it must be submitted by 5pm on Sunday 13 November.

The prize for the Open category is $500 as well as publication in the summer issue of 1964 magazine. The Rangatahi category has a prize of $250 and a book voucher for the winner.

For the Tamariki category, the three prompts are available now and entries must also be submitted by 5pm on Sunday 12 November. First prize is $100 and a book voucher. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Anna-Marie Chin Architects, there will also be four $50 book vouchers for highly commended pieces in the Tamariki category.

Prompts for Tamariki category

You are the last surviving person in your town after a natural disaster. Or so you think, until you receive a radio message from the other end of the country.
Write about someone who cooks for a living – it could be a caterer, a junior chef at a fancy restaurant, a fast-food worker, a young woman running her first cake stall or someone who prepares airline meals – anyone who works with food!
Describe a space, any space, that tells us a lot about the person who uses it.

Prompts for Rangatahi and Open categories

The Meadow Hut at Snow Farm. A group of people have made their way up here for a weekend-long party. What's the party for? Why such an isolated location? What relationships might form or disintegrate here?

A residence in the Rowallan Forest. A couple and a so-called friend have gone tramping and happened upon this residence. Nobody is about to get any sleep tonight. Why not?

Fiona Pardington, The Prince of Wales, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Starkwhite, Auckland and Queenstown

This pounamu hei tiki overlaid with a gold plaque and topped with the Prince of Wales feathers was given to the then Prince of Wales during a Royal Tour by the people of West Harbour, Otago, in 1920. He received a grand welcome with local school children, returned servicemen and the Salvation Army band taking part in the ceremonies.

The Prince was crowned King Edward VIII 16 years later in 1936, but abdicated the throne the same year to marry Wallis Simpson, leading to his brother becoming King George VI. One of Aotearoa-New Zealand’s most celebrated artists, Fiona Pardington (Ngāi Tahu – Awarua, Moeraki, Ngāti Waewae, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) was granted access to this rare and special taonga earlier this year. Carved from a rare and highly-prized Bowenite variety of Pounamu not often used for hei tiki, the stone was sourced from the Piopiotahi / Milford Sound area.

Released from Harewood House estate to a private collection held in America 2012. Repatriated to New Zealand, 2022. Now in a private collection in New Zealand.

Very old run down house in wealthy suburb

A very old, very run-down home in a wealthy suburb. Every home costs way over $1m and is new. But this house is an eyesore, and not worth anything – all the money is in the land, not the rotting timbers. Who might live there? How is it that they refuse to sell, and have their house bowled? What kind of life might they be living?

Conditions of entry

Entry is free.
One entry per person.
Entries will not have been published elsewhere.
The submission must be wholly the work of the person submitting it.
Writers must be resident in the Otago or Southland regions.
Writers retain copyright of their work, and grant the Queenstown Writers Festival licence to publish it online, in print and in third-party media outlets.
Email your entry to info@qtwritersfestival.nz with a title, your name and contact details in the email body (including address), and a sentence or two about yourself. Attach your entry as a Word document. Your name should not appear on the response document.
Attach proof of residence in Otago or Southland with your entry. For adults, that should be a formal document that includes your name and address, such as a power bill. Rangatahi and Tamariki should send their entries from their school email address or provide their the name of their school and their teacher in the covering email.
All winners agree to any media interviews to promote their work and Queenstown Writers Festival.
The judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

Evaluation criteria

Relevancy to the prompt selected
Originality of approach to the prompt
High quality writing
Respect to word count

Anna-Marie Chin Architects create buildings that are beautiful, often simple and sit at ease with the land.

Site is paramount. Rather than making an architectural statement we prefer to respond to the land, creating timeless and authentic buildings to be enjoyed now and well into the future.

The essential elements of design are texture and space. We select raw materials that invite the patina of age, giving character and warmth to a home or workplace. The created spaces, inside and out, must evoke a response, be it inspiration or simply a sense of warmth or wellbeing.