Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards 2020 - Finalists announced

The wait is over! Finalists for the Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards have been announced.

124 entries have kept this year’s judges busy since the competition closed in August.

There are five categories in the Awards; the Secondary School Poetry and Short Story categories, the Open section Poetry, Short Story categories and the Secondary School Research Article category.

Research article judge Matt Rilkoff says this year’s entries made their influencers real.

“It is no easy task to bring a person to life using words,” he says. “They revealed their motivations, their character, their charming idiosyncrasies, their habits and their philosophies.”

Short Story judge Whiti Hereaka says entries this year reflected the current state of the world.

“I’m a big believer that stories and art help us all to navigate this often strange world — particularly in a world tipped off kilter by a global pandemic,” she says. “Some of the entries into the short story competition this year reflected what is happening in our world: dealing with the realities of lockdown and the strains of mental illness. But there were also humorous stories and stories of hope.”

Poetry judge Glenn Colquhoun congratulated every entrant.

“My thanks to all those who entered the competition. It is a brave and fragile thing to pick and pen and paper and write ones observations and recollections of the world,” he says.

Everyone is invited to attend the Awards Ceremony at the Hāwera Community Centre Hall, Albion Street, 7pm on Wednesday 28 October, where the judges will comment on their respective categories and highlight the works that won them over.

RSVP with numbers attending to librarycontact@stdc.govt.nz by Friday 23 October.

Finalists (all categories)

• Liam Finer - Hāwera High School
• Sasha Finer - Hāwera
• Bethan Hansen - Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls
• Emma Hislop - New Plymouth
• Alena Hojdelewicz - Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls
• Anne Larcom - Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls
• Koren Miller - Hāwera
• Lexi McQuaig - Ōpunakē High School
• Airana Ngarewa - Pātea
• James O'Sullivan - New Plymouth
• Hollie Radford - Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls
• Madaline Symes - Ōpunakē High School
• Maria Taylor - Stratford

Additional information:

The Awards, sponsored by the Lysaght Watt Trust, honour the work of one of New Zealand’s most preeminent authors, Ronald Hugh Morrieson (1922 – 1972). Morrieson wrote four novels: a coming of age tale The Scarecrow (1963), Came a Hot Friday (1964), Predicament (published in 1975) and his only contemporary novel Pallet on the Floor (1976). All have been adapted for the cinema, the only New Zealand writer to have acquired this achievement. Two short stories were published posthumously, in 1974; Cross My Heart and Cut My Throat and The Chimney.

Further information about the Judges can be found here: http://www.rhmorriesonawards.com/the-judges.html