Whoo eh! 150 words nets writer top prize

Media Release 31 May, 2011

Whoo eh! 150 words nets writer top prize

A 150 word story about a 1972 Holden Kingswood has scored aspiring writer James Francis first prize in the inaugural BNZ Literary Awards Short Short Story Award. The story, called Whoo eh!, depicts a child’s reaction to their teacher’s flash new car, and was chosen out of more than 300 entries to the world-first competition, run entirely on Facebook.

Judge Graham Beattie says, “It was a difficult task to pick a winner from the high calibre of entries. Whoo eh! is an entertaining and humorous story with a real New Zealand voice. A remarkable achievement with only 150 words available.”

Whoo eh! is the first piece of writing the Tawa resident had entered into an award, which he says has given him a boost to take his writing to the next level.

“I was thrilled to have won this Award and am hugely flattered to have my writing chosen by Graham Beatty. I have always wanted to focus on my personal writing and have had the beginning of this story floating around for a long time. Now I am inspired to enter the other Award categories.”

Mr Beattie says it especially interesting to note the significant number of entries from Christchurch residents writing about their earthquake experiences, one of which, Danger Pay by Will Harvie, received a highly commended notice.

Also awarded for a Highly Commended note was Day’s End, a story by Grant Aldridge which had an unexpected twist at the end.

“My congratulations to all those who entered this “short short story” competition, a timely event in this age of texting and twittering and brief postings to Facebook,” he says.

The Short Short Story Award is a new category of the BNZ Literary, founded to celebrate one of New Zealand’s most innovative writers, Katherine Mansfield. It was run entirely on Facebook with stories of 100 to 150 words being submitted on a vast range of topics.

To view submissions, go to facebook.com/bnzbank.

Ends

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