Northland writers are being invited to enter the NorthWrite 2016 Competition and win registration and attendance at a national writers’ conference worth up to $700.
The one-off competition is being run by the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Northland branch and is open to any writer who is 18 years and over and resident in Northland.
NZSA Northland branch events’ organiser Kathy Derrick said that each year the branch organises NorthWrite, a local event for writers.
“This year, there are so many excellent writing conferences being held around the country, we decided to make NorthWrite 2016 a writing competition, so that one Northland writer is supported to attend one of those conferences.”
She said that entrants are being asked to submit one piece of unpublished writing of up to 2000 words in length that has been inspired in some way by the land, people or history of Northland. This may be in any genre (short story, flash fiction, novel excerpt, essay, article or poetry).
The winner can choose to attend one of the following conferences:
- Auckland Writers Festival 10 – 15 May 2016
- Romance Writers of New Zealand (RWNZ) Conference 12 – 14 August 2016
- IBBY (international Board on Books for Young People) Congress 18 – 21 August 2016
- Going West Books and Writers Festival 9 – 11 September 2016
- National Writers Forum 17 – 19 September 2016
- M?ori Writers Festival 15 – 16 October or 22 – 23 October 2016.
The competition judges are multi-award winning writer and educator Mandy Hager and novelist and short-story writer James George. George is of Ng?puhi descent and calls Northland his “spiritual home”.
Each person may enter once. The entry fee is $15 and entries close on Monday 28 March at 5pm. For entry form and further competition details, see www.northwrite.co.nz.