Writing competitions

One way of getting published is to enter your work into writing competitions.

Winning an award is the way many top New Zealand poets and writers have started their careers, and good prizes often await the winners.

Competition Websites

AUT New Zealand Creative Writing Competition: AUT's annual creative writing competition. There are three categories in the competition: Short story: Emerging (15 - 20 years); Short story: Open (21 years and over); Short graphic fiction: Open (15 years and over)
Gifted Awareness Week competitions: A competition to celebrate gifted kids, their families and professional educators. Written, photgraphic and film competitions.
New Zealand Post National Schools Poetry Awards: Poetry Awards for Years 11-13 New Zealand students. There are two prize categories - Best Poem and Best Lyric.
Pikihuia Awards: Includes a category of Best Short Story in English or Māori by a Māori secondary school student. Held every two years.
Re-Draft: Re-Draft is a competition for 13 - 19 year olds run by the Christchurch School for Young Writers. Your work could be chosen as the title of their annual publication. See also our page on Re-Draft.
Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards: Includes Secondary School Division is open only to secondary school students. Site features previous winning stories.
Takahe competitions: Takahe alternates between poetry and short story competitions each year. The Takahe Collective Trust is a non-profit organisation that aims to support emerging and published writers, poets, artists and cultural commentators.