Pikihuia Awards 2019 Search for M?ori Writers

The search is on – the M?ori Literature Trust invites M?ori writers to submit their short stories for the 2019 Pikihuia Awards.

There are six new categories in this year’s awards. Robyn Bargh, Chair of the M?ori Literature Trust says, ‘We have restructured the Pikihuia Awards this year to encourage M?ori writers to enter regardless of what level they are at. We want to identify new writing talent, to encourage those emerging writers who have already shown promise, and finally we want to find the best of our published writers’.

The categories are:

• First-time writer in te reo M?ori
• First-time writer in English
• Emerging writer in te reo M?ori
• Emerging writer in English
• Published writer in te reo M?ori
• Published writer in English

The winner of each category will receive a cash prize of $2,000, and two highly commended finalists in each category will receive a cash prize of $500 each. In addition, selected winners and finalists will be published in Huia Short Stories 13 – a series of contemporary fiction by M?ori writers published by Huia Publishers.

The sponsors of this year’s awards are Creative New Zealand, Te Puni K?kiri and Huia Publishers.

The competition closes at 5.00 p.m. on Monday, 8 April 2019.  The Awards ceremony in September will be a chance to celebrate the best of Maori writers.

Details about the awards and downloadable resources are available at www.mlt.org.nz.