?The Top of the South branch of NZSA organises the annual Short Story Competition sponsored by Page & Blackmore Booksellers of Nelson.

?This national competition is judged by a different, noted New Zealand writer each year, and all entrants receive written feedback on the stories submitted. Past judges are Kevin Ireland, Tina Shaw, Ted Dawe, Graeme Lay, Brigid Lowry, Gavin Bishop, Carl Nixon, David Hill and Fiona Kidman.?

Catherine Chidgey’s honours include the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Asia-Pacific), a Betty Trask Award (UK) and the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award. Her fourth novel,The Wish Child, set in Nazi Germany, won the $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize at the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Radio New Zealand called it ‘a brilliant, brilliant novel … a masterpiece’, and The Times (UK) ‘a remarkable book with a stunningly original twist’. Her most recent honour is the 2017 Janet Frame Fiction Prize. Her ‘found’ novel, The Beat of the Pendulum, was released in November 2017.
Photograph of Catherine Chidgey by Helen Mayall

The 2018 competition will open for entries of up to 1500 words on 1st January and close on 3rd April. The first, second and third placed writers will receive book vouchers from Page & Blackmore Booksellers. They, and the seven shortlisted writers, will receive certificates recognising their achievement. The results of the competition will be announced at the Top of the South branch’s AGM on 12 May in Nelson, and subsequently posted on this page.

?Winning and short-listed stories are published in a biennial anthology which also includes poems that have been displayed in the windows of the Nelson Provincial Museum and Page & Blackmore Booksellers. All contributors receive a free copy.