Prize winners
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The following prizes and prize winners relate to the MA in Creative Writing and date back, in some cases, to 1997.
Adam Award
The Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing was established in 1996 through the Victoria University Foundation by Denis and Verna Adam because of their strong wish to support the development of creative writing in New Zealand.
In each year the Adam Prize, a sum of $3,000, is awarded to the author of the best page-based portfolio for the MA.
Winners
2012
Kerry Donovan-Brown
Lamplighter (novel)
2011
Hera Lindsay Bird
And Together We Fight Crime (prose poetry collection)
2010
Rayne Cockburn
Someplace for Boys (novel)
2009
Ashleigh Young
Can You Tolerate This? (personal essays)
2008
Lynn Jenner
Dear Sweet Harry (mixed genre)
Published by Auckland University Press (AUP0, 2010. Winner of Best First Book Award for Poetry at the 2011 NZ Post Book Awards.
2007
Eleanor Catton
The Rehearsal (novel)
Published by Victoria University Press (VUP), 2008 and subsequently by Granta in the UK (2009) and Little Brown in the US (2010). Winner of the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction at the 2009 Montana NZ Book Awards, and the 2009 UK Society of Authors' Betty Trask Award.
2006
Anna Taylor
Going Under: Stories (short story collection)
Published as Relief by VUP, 2009
2005
Michele Amas
After the Dance (poetry)
Published by VUP, 2006. Shortlisted for the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry at the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
2004
Emily Dobson
A Box of Bees (poetry)
Published by VUP, 2005
2003
Josh Greenberg
A Man who Eats the Heart (novel)
Published by VUP, 2004
2002
Cliff Fell
The Adulterer's Bible (poetry)
Published by VUP, 2003. Winner Best First Book of Poetry at the 2004 Montana Book Awards.
2001
Paula Morris
Queen of Beauty (novel)
Published by Penguin, 2002. Winner Best First Book of Fiction at the 2003 Montana Book Awards.
2000
Tim Corballis
Below (novel)
Published by VUP, 2001
1999
No award made.
1998
William Brandt
Alpha Male (short fiction)
Published by VUP, 1999, and subsequently published by Jonathan Cape. Winner Best First Book of Fiction at the 1999 Montana Book Awards.
1997
Catherine Chidgey
In a Fishbone Church (novel)
Published by VUP, 1998. Winner Best First Book of Fiction at the 1998 Montana Book Awards.
David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize
David Carson-Parker, with the Victoria University Foundation, established the David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize to be awarded to a student from the Scriptwriting stream of the MA in Creative Writing. This prize was originally funded by the Embassy Trust, which was formed in July 1996 to preserve and restore the early 20th century theatre turned cinema, and to support the infrastructure of the local theatre and film industry. With the completion of the Embassy restoration and the winding up of the Trust, one of the trustees, David Carson-Parker, generously stepped in to continue funding the prize, and to increase its value to $3,000.
The IIML was saddened to hear of David Carson-Parker's death in October 2012.
Winners
2012
Vinay Choudary
The Bloody Mulligans (film script)
2011
Barbara Burke
Orla (film script)
2010
Maya Hammarsal
Abandoned Islands (film script)
2009
Colin Hodson
Life on the Island (film script)
2008
Simon Hall
Miracle Road (film script)
and
Hannah McKie
McKenzie Country (play script)
Premiered at BATS Theatre, Wellington, June 2011
2007
Tusi Tamasese
The Orator (film script)
World-premiered in competition at the 68th International Venice Film Festival, 2011. Released late 2011 and submitted as New Zealand's entry to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2011 Academy Awards. The Orator / O Le Tulafale has won multiple awards and received widespread critical acclaim. (Writer/director Tusi Tamasese.)
2006
Brendon Simpson
Into Africa (play script, working title)
2005
Lucy O'Brien
Katydid (play script)
Premiered at BATS Theatre, Wellington, 2010 and won several prizes including Outstanding New Playwright for O'Brien at the 2010 Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.
2004
Marian Evans
Mothersongs/Chansons Maternelles (film script)
2003
Renata Hopkins
The Waiting Game (TV drama series)
2002
Claire Ashton
Vena Cava (film script)
Biggs Poetry Prize
Since 2006 the Biggs Poetry Prize of $3,000 has been awarded annually to recognise the potential of a graduating poet.
Winners
2012
Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle
Autobiography of a Marguerite
2011
Rachel Sawaya
The Bones in the Baobab
2010
Aleksandra Lane
Birds of Clay
2009
Bill Nelson
The Wolf Market
2008
Louise Wallace
Since June, published by VUP, 2009
2007
Joan Fleming
2006
Amy Brown
The Propaganda Poster Girl), published by VUP, 2008
Glenn Schaeffer Award
This Award, also known as the Schaeffer Fellowship, can provide the opportunity for Victoria's leading MA graduates to go on to grant-aided study at North American co-centres of the IIML, such as the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and the University of California (Irvine). it is only available to New Zealand citizens.
This award is currently in abeyance but we hope to reinstate it in the future.
Winners
2007
Ellie Catton (novelist)
2006
Therese Lloyd (poet)
2005
Alice Miller (poet)
2004
Emily Dobson (poet)
2003
Tracey Hill (novelist)
2002
Anna Livesey (poet)
2001
Paula Morris (novelist)
2000
Tim Corballis (novelist)
Kate Duignan (novelist)