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Celebrating stories in our two official written languages

The NZSA Top of the South Branch has successfully run a short story competition since 2007.

In 2022, the competition evolved into Te Tauihu Short Story Awards in recognition of the fact Aotearoa New Zealand has two official written languages: te reo Māori and English. 

Our Te Tauihu Short Story Awards are open to writers throughout New Zealand. The competition  runs annually and offers both Māori- and English-language sections, with their own awards.

Previously known as the Page & Blackmore Short Story Competition, the awards have been judged by a diverse range of acclaimed New Zealand writers each year, including Elizabeth Knox ONZM, Gavin Bishop ONZM, Paula Morris MNZM, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Mandy Hagar, Stacey Morrison, Carl Nixon, Fiona Kidman and Renee.

In 2025, our te reo Māori judge is cultural exponent, teacher, weaver, researcher, editor, translator and writer, Nuki Takao. This year's English language judge Lee Murray received the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction in 2023 and is a five-time Bram Stoker Award® winner. Read more about this year's judges here.

​Our small NZSA TOS committee are volunteers from the Te Tauihu writing community, who are committed to the success of the awards and dedicate numerous hours of mahi to making them happen.
Enter the 2025 Te Tauihu Short Story 
Awards

We acknowledge the cultural guidance that Wakatu Incorporation provides to these awards and the support of: 

Funder

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​GOLD sponsor
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SILVER sponsors
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Congratulations to the Winners of Te Tauihu Short Story Awards 2024

English Language Section

Finalist Judge: Paula Morris
First Prize ($1000): My Alice by Jillian Robinson
Judge Paula Morris said:
This story stood out for me because of its tone, which managed to avoid sentimentality even while the narrator describes a much-loved grandmother. The narrator’s dry humour makes the difference here, particularly with characterisation and with the story’s ending.

There’s fluency to the writing here and a style in evidence from the opening: this drops us straight into the story without preamble. I particularly liked the author’s handling of scene, with just the right pace in the pikelet-making section, managing to balance point of view, action and dialogue at the same time.
Click here to read the story. (Opens in a new window.)

Second Prize ($500): Rosie and the Wolf by Tania Norfolk
Judge Paula Morris said:
A number of the submitted stories dealt with trauma and death, and this subject matter can ensnare a story writer. In such a compressed form, some writers will tilt into melodrama, sentimentality or abstractions. This story avoids those traps by combining the story of a childhood friend lost to illness with the (topical) trauma of dealing with a flood, and by dealing with both subjects with a light and sure touch.
Click here to read the story. (Opens in a new window.)

Third Prize ($300): The Thief by Angela Barnett
Judge Paula Morris said:
This story takes a familiar situation – a woman attending a funeral – and subverts it with an imaginative narrative about theft and coincidence. The author is adept with dialogue and also with maintaining tension in the story through subtle hints at conflict.
Click here to read the story. ​(Opens in a new window.)
​
​Other shortlisted stories:
  • ​A Father's First Steps by Josie Laird
  • Bloodbath by Kieran Stone
  • Braemar Seniors Parkour Club by Roly Andrews
  • Rainman by Pam Henson
  • Supi Run (Mate Whakaahuru) by Steph Le Gros
  • Taciturnity by K-T Harrison
  • The Ice-breaker by Pip Pam HensonHarrison

Te Reo Māori Section

Finalist Judge:
Vaughan Rapatahana

First Prize ($500): ​Ko te Haerenga by Atakohu Middleton
Judge Vaughan Rapatahana said:
I think that, without any doubt, our first prize winner is Ko te Haerenga. Well-written, well-paced, suspenseful, as dark as the night on which the activity takes place.
Click here to read the story. (Opens in a new window.)

​Highly Commended:
  • Ko te rā tū tēnei by Hāmihi Duncan  ​
  • Te Hapori Karawēne by Dr Darryn Joseph
​
Note: There were fewer than 10 entries in this section, so judges chose three stories eligible for consideration.

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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
    • The ToS Committee
    • Writing Goups >
      • Group funding
    • Top of the South Writers' Trail
  • News
    • Newsletters
  • Short Story Awards
    • Te Tauihu Short Story Awards 2025 >
      • Judges
      • Terms & Conditions
  • Resources
    • On-line Resources
    • Writing Services >
      • Artwork & Graphic Design
      • Beta Readers
      • Editing & Proof-reading
      • Promotion & Publicity
      • Publishing & Printing
      • Website Design
  • Authors
    • Authors A-G >
      • Jeanette Aplin
      • Garrick Batten
      • Megan Bell
      • Robyn Bennett
      • Patricia Berwick
      • Martin Bird
      • David Briggs
      • Ali Brown
      • Suzanne Clark
      • Rachel Craw
      • Marion Day
      • John Du Four
      • Colin Fisher
      • Phil Garnock-Jones
      • Bruce Gilkison
      • Jeanette Goode
      • Elizabeth Gould
    • Authors H-P >
      • Carolyn Hawes
      • Rebecca Hayter
      • Pam Henson
      • Wix Hutton
      • Linda Jane Keegan
      • Julie Kennedy
      • Liz Mahoney
      • Jan Marsh
      • Anne Marshman
      • Paul Maunder
      • Carol Maxwell
      • Rosalina-Ludmila McCarthy
      • Helen McKinlay
      • Phil Morrell
      • Tania Norfolk
      • Trish Palmer
    • Authors Q-Z >
      • ​Tarmo Rajasaari
      • Shannon Savvas
      • Annabel Schuler
      • Wendy Scott
      • Kate Shaw
      • Susan Smith
      • Charlotte Squire
      • Karen Stade
      • Emma Stevens
      • Chris Stuart
      • W F Stubbs
      • Fiona Summerfield
      • Kerry Sunderland
      • Sylvan Thomson
      • Chris Tait
      • Colin Taylor
      • Lucy Wilson
      • Iona Winter
      • Angela Woolf
  • Books
    • Adult Fiction
    • Art, Crafts & Hobbies
    • Biography
    • Children
    • Fantasy
    • Humanities
    • Poetry, Plays and Short Stories
    • Practical & Self-Help
    • Travel & Adventure
    • Young Adult