Competitions
ANNA-MARIE CHIN ARCHITECTS WRITING COMPETITION 2023
This 48-hour writing competition took place over the festival weekend, from 5pm on Friday 10 November to 5pm on Sunday 12 November 2023. Dozens of stories responding to one of a number of possible writing prompts flew in from all over Otago and Southland. With substantial prizes on offer, it was critical the judging be unbiased – so writers' names were not on the stories for judging. You can find the full prompts and the rules on the 2023 competition page.
Click on placegetters' story names to read the story.
Open category
Judge: Steve Braunias
Winner: 'Elsie's Dream' by Jane Coombs ($500 and publication in 1964 magazine)
Second: 'Bushbash' by Trevor Lloyd
Third equal: 'Carrion' by Camille Khouri
Third equal: 'The House on Jeden Street' by Wayne Martin
Trustees' Choice: 'Sasha Was Here' by Kahli Scott
Rangatahi category
Judge: Michael Bennett
Winner: 'Three Stars' by Oshadha Perera ($250 and book voucher)
Tamariki category
Judge: Jane Bloomfield
Winner: 'The Desk' by Sayla Ware ($100 and book voucher)
Highly commended: 'The Room of an Artist and Nature Lover' by Jasmin Obermoser; 'The Last One' by Kate Lim; 'Arnold the Ghost and the Evaporating Volcano' by Nia Madden; 'The Secret Ingredient' by Sophie Devlin; 'Alone' by Alyssa Hughes. (Each receives $50 book voucher.)
QWF SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2020
The inaugural Queenstown Writers Festival short story competition drew entries from a wide range of Otago and Southland writers, from young to not so young and novices to published writers. The competition was judged blind – the three experts we invited to make the decisions did not know who wrote each story.
Click on placegetters' story names to read the story.
Open category
Judge: Maxine Alterio
Winner: 'The very bones' by Liz Breslin, Wanaka
Second: 'Settling the Score' by Anne Moir, Dunedin
Third: 'This is a picture of love' by Febriani Idrus, Dunedin
Highly commended: 'Beaufort Wind Scale' by Gay Buckingham, Dunedin
Highly commended: 'Dog tired' by Beverly Martens, Dunedin
Highly commended: 'Hooked' by Mike Bown, Waikouaiti
Rangatahi category
Judge: Iona Winter
First: 'See How They Run' by Fineen Hingston
Second: 'What They Were Actually Like' by Zak Barham
Third: 'Mr and Mrs Miren' by Om Alva
Tamariki category
Judge: Jane Bloomfield
First: 'Killer in the Night' by Madi Chambers
Second: 'Life on Mars' by Sabine Edmonds
Third: 'Raid of the Lunchboxes' by Felix Wall
Highly commended: 'Gremleworths' by Merry Foster; 'Café Crisis' by Nico Pettit; 'The Silence of the Shark' by Lorenza Jarvis