MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release: 05 December 2025
Copyright Licensing New Zealand are Pleased to Announce the Recipients of the 2025 CLNZ Contestable Fund Grants.
Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) is excited to announce the successful recipients in the 2025 round of Contestable Fund Grants, with a total of $75,000 granted. This year we received 107 applications, the highest ever number of applications for a Cultural Fund award.
Applications were invited for projects that had clearly defined and measurable outcomes that align with the CLNZ Cultural Fund’s objectives. The diverse range and high standard of applications this year demonstrates the work the sector is doing to upskill authors, writers, and publishers.
The Contestable Fund is part of CLNZ’s Cultural Fund, which derives revenue from CLNZ’s licensing activity in New Zealand. The Cultural Fund supports people and projects that encourage the development of current and future writers, publishers, and educators.
This year funding contributions were made towards the following 19 projects. Congratulations to the following recipients:
- Age Concern Wellington Region
Writing and Publishing Project: A Century of Stories. Granted $2000.
- Arts Access Aotearoa Putanga Toi ki Aotearoa
Online Archive Project: Legacy in Words: Deaf and Disabled Authors of Aotearoa. Granted $5000
- Barbarian Productions
Writing and Publishing Project: Secret Art Powers – Online Accessibility. Granted $5000
- Chye-Ling Huang
Writing and Publishing Project: Fresh off the Page development and playreading events. Granted $3000
- Flying Start Books
Publishing Project: Cosmic Comics (First 16 of 96). Granted $5000
- Ghazaleh Golbakhsh
Writing Project: DisOrient. Granted $2000
- Greg Bruce
Writing and Drawing Project: That Glorious Night. Granted $2000
- Hana Chatani
Writing and Publishing Project: Merde! Granted $5000
- HUIA Publishers
Writing and Publishing Project: Manu Tuhituhi Rangatahi. Granted $4000
- Karen McMillan
Awards Project: NZ Booklovers Awards 2026. Granted $2000
- Lauren Keenan
Writing and Publishing Project: “Mongoose”. Granted $2000
- Melanie Dixon
Publishing Project: Project Management for Creatives. Granted $5000
- Oratia Books
Publishing Project: Moana Oceania: Niue. Granted $5200
- Playmarket
Writing and Publishing Project: Tiri:Te Araroa. Granted $5000
- Samoa House Library
Writing and Publishing Project: Samoa House Library Anthology (2018-2026) (working title). Granted $5000
- The D*List
Writing and Publishing Project: D*clarations – developing new disabled voices. Granted $5000
- The Physics Room Trust
Writing Project: Attention Studies: writing development programme and publication series. Granted $5000
- Una Cruickshank
Writing Project: Beware of Mirrors. Granted $2000
- Utu ā Matimati
Writing and Publishing Project: Utu ā Matimati Magazine. Granted $5200
Special thanks to our selection panel judges Abby Aitcheson, Ioana Gordon-Smith and Anne de Lautour who made the following comments about this year’s applications:
“This year brought a record-breaking volume of applications, the vast majority of which were very compelling. I was particularly impressed by the emphasis on highlighting new and under-represented voices through mentorship opportunities, the exciting visual-arts oriented publishing proposals, and the consistently strong quality of manuscripts from individual authors. My sincere thanks to CLNZ and to my fellow panel members for their thoughtful engagement throughout the process. I wish all the applicants the very best as their projects continue to take shape.” – Abby Aitcheson
“It was both encouraging and humbling to encounter such a high calibre of proposals. The projects demonstrated a clear desire to tell and share stories that reflect the aspirations and needs of Aotearoa’s diverse communities. The volume and quality of applications also speak to the resilience of writers and publishers, who continue to create despite increasingly challenging financial and funding conditions.
Our assessment process balanced CLNZ’s criteria with robust discussion about how to best support such exceptional work within the limits of the available funding. We prioritised applications that showed strong potential for direct community impact, and projects that demonstrated capability—either through past delivery of clearly defined and achievable plans. While most grants were only partially funded, distributing support widely was an important way to acknowledge and uplift the sector’s varied and pressing needs.” – Ioana Gordon-Smith
“Assessing more than100 applications for this important funding round was no easy task. The volume of applications highlights the importance of, and reliance on, external funding that we in the arts sector require to bring our projects to fruition.
The overall standard of the applications was high, and it is heartening to see the level of detail that individuals and organisations include to give a clear picture of the vision, intention, and anticipated benefits to communities.
Many of the planned activities and programmes demonstrate new thinking and will create future opportunities for diverse audiences which in turn benefits the arts sector as a whole.” – Anne de Lautour
Successful recipient’s projects are listed on our website at: https://www.copyright.co.nz/cultural-fund/previous-recipients
Ends.
About Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ)
CLNZ is a not-for-profit organisation that is jointly owned by The Publishers Association of New Zealand/Te Rau o Tākupu (PANZ) and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc, (NZSA).
CLNZ plays a key role in making creative rights, valuable assets for all New Zealander, be they rightsholders like writers, publishers and visual artists, or users of creative works such as educators, students, and businesses. CLNZ puts aside a fixed amount of licensing revenue in the Cultural Fund to support people and projects that encourage the development of current and future writers, publishers, and educators to help grow the sector.
