The Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize (formerly the Landfall Essay Competition) is an annual award open to writers from Aotearoa New Zealand. It is judged by the current editor of Landfall Tauraka, the country’s longest-running literary journal, and the winning entry is published in a subsequent issue of the journal.
History
[edit]The competition was first held in 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the literary magazine Landfall. It was established by Chris Price, who was editor at the time, and sponsored by Otago University Press. The competition has been awarded annually since 2009 and is judged each year by the current editor.
The aim of the prize is "to encourage New Zealand writers to think aloud about New Zealand culture" and "to revive and sustain the tradition of vivid, contentious and creative essay writing".[1][2]
In 2017 the Charles Brasch Young Writers' Essay Competition was launched, named for Landfall founder Charles Brasch, as an annual award open to writers aged 16 to 25.[3][4]
In October 2025, coinciding with the publication of Landfall’s 250th issue, both competitions were renamed to reflect the journal’s new bilingual identity as Landfall Tauraka.
Every two years, selected essays from the two competitions are collected in the Strong Words anthologies, published by Otago University Press. The first volume, Strong Words 2019: The Best of the Landfall Essay Competition, was edited by Emma Neale and chosen by The Spinoff as one of the ten best non-fiction works of the year.[5][6]
Eligibility and conditions
[edit]As of 2025 there are a number of conditions of entry, including:[7]
- The competition is open to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents.
- Essays must not exceed 4000 words (or 2000 words for the Young Writers' prize).
- Essays can be on any topic but must not have been previously published.
The winner is announced and published in each November issue of Landfall Tauraka. The winner receives $3000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall Tauraka. The winner of the Young Writers' prize receives $1500 and a year's subscription to Landfall Tauraka.[1]
List of winners by year
[edit]- 1997: Gregory O'Brien and Joris de Bres.
- 1999: C. K. Stead and Peter Wells.
- 2002: Patrick Evans and Kapka Kassabova.
- 2004: Martin Edmond and Tze Ming Mok.[8]
- 2006: Anna Sanderson.
- 2008: Alice Miller and Kirsten Warner.
- 2009: Ashleigh Young.[9]
- 2010: Ian Wedde.
- 2011: Philip Armstrong. Runner-up: Siobhan Harvey. Commended: Ruth Nichol, Raewyn Alexander, and Natalie Kershaw.
- 2012: Elizabeth Smither. Runners-up: Majella Cullinane and Jane Williamson.
- 2013: Tim Corballis. Runners-up: Eva Ng and Maggie Rainey-Smith.
- 2014: Diana Bridge. Runners-up: Sarah Bainbridge, Simon Thomas, and Scott Hamilton.
- 2015: Tracey Slaughter. 2nd: Phil Braithwaite. 3rd: Louise Wallace. Highly commended: Therese Lloyd.[10]
- 2016: Airini Beautrais. 2nd: Michalia Arathimos. 3rd: Carolyn Cossey.[11][12]
- 2017: Joint first: Laurence Fearnley and Alie Benge. Shortlisted: Ingrid Horrocks, Lynley Edmeades, Sue Wootton, Kate Camp, and Mark Houlahan.[13]
- 2018: Alice Miller. 2nd: Susan Wardell. 3rd: Sam Keenan.
- 2019: Joint first: Tobias Buck and Nina Mingya Powles. 3rd: Sarah Harpur. Joint 4th: Joan Fleming and Jillian Sullivan. Highly commended: Ingrid Horrocks, Himali McInnes, and Derek Schulz. Commended: Justine Jungersen-Smith and Amy Brown.
- 2020: A.M. McKinnon. 2nd: Tan Tuck Ming. 3rd equal: Anna Blair and Siobhan Harvey. Highly commended: Sarah Barnett, Shelley Burne-Field, Anna Knox, Una Cruickshank.[1]
- 2021: Andrew Dean. 2nd: Claire Mabey. 3rd: Susan Wardell. Highly commended: Norman Franke, Susanna Elliffe.[1]
- 2022: Tina Makereti[14]
- 2023: Siobhan Harvey.[15]
- 2024: Joint 1st: Franchesca Walker and Hannah August.[16]
- 2025: Tasmin Prichard.[17]
See also
[edit]External links
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Otago University Press: Landfall Essay Competition". University of Otago: Te Whare Wananga o Otago. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Awards and Competitions". Unesco City of Literature Dunedin. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ Lewis, John (20 May 2021). "Pupil's plea for climate adaptation wins prize". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Charles Brasch Young Writers Essay Competition". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending December 6". The Spinoff. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "The 10 best New Zealand non-fiction books of 2019". The Spinoff. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Landfall Essay Competition: Conditions of Entry". Otago University Press. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "Race you there - Tze Ming Mok co-winner of the 2004 Landfall Essay Prize". The Big Idea. 28 January 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ Green, Paula (4 March 2010). "An edition to savour". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ "Another win for Dr Slaughter". The University of Waikato: Te Whare Wananga o Waikato. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ "International Institute of Modern Letters: Airini Beautrais wins 2016 Landfall Essay Competition". Victoria University of Wellington. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ "Landfall Essay Competition Winner: Umlaut". Pantograph Punch. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ "Landfall Essay Competition winners share prize for radically different topics". Booksellers NZ. 6 November 2017. Archived from the original on 15 January 2019.
- ^ Makereti, Tina (27 November 2022). "Lumpectomy". The Spinoff. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
- ^ Harvey, Siobhan (27 November 2023). "Siobhan Harvey wins 2023 Landfall Essay Competition". Otago University Press. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ OUP (27 November 2024). "Joint-winners announced for 2024 Landfall Essay Competition - Otago University Press". Retrieved 15 October 2025.
- ^ Publicity, O. U. P. (14 October 2025). "Tasmin Prichard wins 2025 Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize - Otago University Press". Retrieved 15 October 2025.