Last Call - Two Weeks to Sharpen the Pencil

Time is running out for New Zealand’s talented writers to enter the 2012 BNZ Literary Awards. With just two weeks to go, aspiring authors still have time to finalise and submit their entries.

Now in its 53rd year, the BNZ Literary Awards are the country’s most prestigious and longest running literary competition with 2012 seeing the return of the innovative BNZ Short Short Story Award category. This 100-150 word competition is run entirely on Facebook and, with almost 600 entries flooding in over the past couple of months, is set to really challenge the judges.

And it’s an opportunity not to be missed for budding writers amongst the country’s secondary school students, who are being encouraged to submit entries in the BNZ Young Writer Award category.

Four categories of Awards:
•        BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award category, the main award category, with a prize of $10,000
•        BNZ Novice Writer Award category, for unpublished writers, with a prize of $1,500
•        BNZ Young Writer Award category, for writers at secondary school, with a prize of $1,500 for the student and $2,000 for their school
•        BNZ Short Short Story Award category, open to all entrants, with a prize of $500.

Entries close June 30 2012. Applicants can enter the three main categories via BNZ’s website, www.bnz.co.nz/literaryawards. Entries for the Short Short story can be submitted via the bank’s Facebook page.

The winners will be announced on 18 September at an awards ceremony in Wellington.