The winner of the 2020 Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award was announced on Tuesday 8 September at an event held for finalists at the National Library of New Zealand. The annual competition is open to Year 12 and 13 students in the Wellington region. Nadezhda Macey, a Year 13 student at Wellington High School, won with her story ‘Matahiwi’.

A shortlist of 11 finalists from ten local high schools was judged by Tina Makereti, an acclaimed writer and a Senior Lecturer at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington.

Speaking at the awards, Makereti noted, “It’s always exciting to encounter new voices. The stories I have had the privilege of reading are full of complexity and it’s been a real pleasure to encounter them.”

Makereti said the winning story stood out thanks to its vivid prose. “From the first line, ‘Matahiwi, the switch edge blade of your eye, glinting from the hill’s ridge’, this story held me with its compelling voice. It has otherworldly elements but is also wholly familiar. I’m excited to see what this writer does next.”

Cadence Chung, a Year 12 Wellington High School student, was highly commended for her story ‘The End of the World’, as was Avni Labhsetwar, Year 13 from Newlands College, with ‘Hidden Sacrifices’.

“It’s never easy to judge when every story has something special to offer,” said Makereti. “The main thing I would want our young writers to take away from this experience is to keep writing and to do it for the joy of the process rather than for the outcome.”

The annual award has a $500 cash prize and is made possible by the Gay Saker Bequest. Gay Saker was a Wellington teacher of English and reading for over 20 years and a great admirer of the writing of Katherine Mansfield.

“We are hugely grateful to the Gay Saker Bequest for making this Award possible,” says Cherie Jacobson, Director of Katherine Mansfield House & Garden.

“We were thrilled with the number and quality of entries this year from students throughout the wider Wellington region. It’s safe to say creativity is alive and well among young people today and encouraging young people to share their stories is a wonderful way to celebrate the creative legacy of Katherine Mansfield.”

The stories of all 11 finalists will be published on the Katherine Mansfield House & Garden website, with the winner also being published on the Verb Wellington website.

A highlight of the evening was a display of special objects from the Alexander Turnbull Library’s Katherine Mansfield collection, including Mansfield’s Corona 3 typewriter and a manuscript of what would become the story ‘Prelude’.

© Scoop Media