Mansfield Short Story Award
Each year Katherine Mansfield House & Garden invites entries for the Mansfield Short Story Award from Year 12 and 13 students in the Wellington Region. The award is a $500 cash prize made possible by a generous bequest from Gay Saker, a long-time Wellington English teacher. Entries for 2023 closed on 16 August 2023. This page will be updated when entries open for the 2024 Award, likely in July. For those who missed the deadline or are keen to enter other competitions for young writers, there is a list of opportunities here.
Mansfield Short Story Award 2023
On Wednesday 20 September, ten of the eleven finalists and their guests, including teachers and Principals, attended an awards event at the National Library. This year's judge was award-winning writer Sue Orr. In her opening comments, Sue said she found the shortlisted stories remarkable for the variety of subject matter explored by the writers, making the competition difficult to judge. She said, “I love reading high school short stories because it affords me the privilege of being a witness to the first steps in the careers of tomorrow’s star writers of Aotearoa New Zealand.” You can read the full media release for the awards here.
All the finalists stories can be found below, with the award given to Amaya Colombick for her story 'Ouroboros'. Runner-up and highly commended stories are noted below. Congratulations to all the finalists and thank you to all of this year's entrants. We were thrilled to have so many schools from throughout the region represented in the entries and the finalists. Huge thanks to Joan McCracken and the National Library for hosting the event, and to all those who attended to support the students.
Judge Sue Orr with ten of the eleven finalists.
Amaya Colombick, Kāpiti College | Ouroboros (Winner)
Nadia Scott, Newlands College | Jacob (Runner-Up)
Sophie Leung-Wai, Hutt Valley High School | Fishing (Highly Commended)
Rebecca Connolly, St Mary's College | Patupaiarehe (Highly Commended)
Abby Sangwine, Newlands College | Great Guy's Decision
Carly Hyde, Newlands College | Hidden
Joshua Toumu'a, Wellington High School | Performance Artists in Another Life
Matilda Rumball-Smith, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School | The Last Five
Maxim Ericson, Wellington College | Sip. Burn. Sip. and Dandelions
Merekara Te Tau Rupapere, Mākoura College | That's What Made Her Feel Loved
Tamanna Amin, Sacred Heart College | So Faux Strong
Mansfield Short Story Award 2022
Judge Victor Rodger with all eleven finalists.
Hannah Wilson, Raphael House Rudolph Steiner School | Henry and Eliza (Winner)
Elise Jung-Leask, Wairarapa College | Borame (Highly Commended)
Carly Hyde, Newlands College | Leave Me Alone (Highly Commended)
Maxim Ericson, Wellington College | Full Grey Sky (Highly Commended)
Alysha Wilson, Wellington Girls' College | The Eyes
Campbell Anderson, Tawa College | Star-Crossed Muderers
Hilary Smith, Hutt Valley High School | The Ceramic Mask
Jade Stapleton, Samuel Marsden Collegiate | First Date
Jessie Davidson, Wellington High School | Pickled Onions
Meredith Butcher, Chilton St James School | Good Driver
Rebecca Connolly, St Mary's College | The Gravediggers Club
The finalists and their stories from 2016-2021 can be found below. Enjoy!
2021 KM Short Story Award
Guest judge Airini Beautrais (who beamed in via Zoom from Whanganui). Ten talented writers were shortlisted for the award, which was won by Cadence Chung from Wellington High School with 'Oxford'. Highly commended certificates were presented to Freya Turnbull from Onslow College and Ruby Barton from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.
Cadence Chung | Oxford (Winner)
Freya Turnbull | Good For Her (Highly Commended)
Ruby Barton | [Untitled] (Highly Commended)
Eliza Cartmell | Birth/Life/Death
Emma Wilson | Anniversary Day
Hamish Baguley | Detention
Hannah Wilson | The Yellow House
Heather Darby | Jack.
Holly Inglis | Wings
Monty O'Rielly | Coping
2020 KM Short Story Award
Guest judge Tina Makereti. Eleven talented writers were shortlisted for the award, which was won by Nadezhda Macey from Wellington High School with 'Matahiwi'. Highly commended certificates were presented to Avni Labhsetwar from Newlands College and Cadence Chung from Wellington High School. Images from left: The finalists; winner Nadezhda Macey with judge Tina Makereti; guests view items from the Alexander Turnbull Library's Katherine Mansfield collection.
Nadezhda Macey | Matahiwi (Winner)
Avni Labhsetwar | Hidden Sacrifices (Highly Commended)
Cadence Chung | The End of the World (Highly Commended)
Leila Barber | Memory
Gemma Bennion | Only July
Holly Inglis | The Matchmaker
Geneva King | The Red Trees
Valerie Villanueva | You Reap What You Sow
Georgia Wearing | Sumatra's a Type of Tiger
Maria Williams | Dear Amelia
Oliver Errington | Untitled
2019 KM Short Story Award
Guest judge Kate Duignan. Ten talented writers were shortlisted for the award, which was won by Asylvia Redgrave from Onslow College with 'The Log-Woman'. Highly commended certificates were presented to Jemima Dowle from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, and Julia Lockerd and Kate Twomey from Wellington Girls' College.
Asylvia Redgrave | The Log-Woman (Winner)
Jemima Dowle | Perfect Peter (Highly Commended)
Julia Lockerd | Katherine's Ghost (Highly Commended)
Kate Twomey | So Eden Sank to Grief (Highly Commended)
Tegan Martin | Crashing Down
Zoe Peet | Keys between my Fingers
Elizabeth Hogan | Of Dinosaurs and Love
Maggie Tu | Untitled
Alex Donovan | Sanctitude
Ella Tait | Untitled
2018 KM Short Story Award
Guest judge Pip Adam. Ten talented writers were shortlisted for the award, won by Elsie Christoffel of Wellington East Girls' College. Runners up were Olivia Sinclair from Onslow College, and Ella Strachan and Kate Twomey from Wellington Girls' College.
Elsie Christoffel | Letter to Love (Winner)
Olivia Sinclair | Gone To Sea (Runner up)
Ella Strachan | Untitled (Runner up)
Kate Twomey | Alice (Runner up)
Madeleine Somerville | I Am
Elizabeth Schumaker | Me and Her
Emma Brown | I've Been Absent From My Skin
Ella Speden | Wasteland
Anneke Hutt | Hide
Elsie Christoffel | Good art
2017 KM Short Story Competition
Guest judge Mandy Hager. From ten shortlisted stories, the winner was Sarah May of Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Runners up were Emin Kaya of St Patrick's College, Renee Hanrahan of St Mary's College, and Katie Fenton of Wellington Girls' College.
Sarah May | Morning Coffee (Winner)
Emin Kaya | Kaş (Runner up)
Renee Hanrahan | The Elephant in the Room (Runner up)
Katie Fenton | Concerto in B Major (Runner up)
Judah Dabora | One Thousand Cranes
Matthew Canlas | Winter's End
Barnard Patel | Flotsam
Zalan Orban | Night Riders
Lauren Phang | Beaming lights
Tom Hughes | A Date at the Lights
2016 KM Short Story Award
Guest judge Mandy Hager. Out of ten finalists, the winner was Katie Reed from Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.
Katie Reed | Imperfection (Winner)
Varvara Sidorenko | Letters From My Grandmother
Maya Duckworth | Night Prayer
Isla Hutching-Bryant | Fooled
Sarah May | Language
Alexander Sharples | Clerical Error
Caroline Kay | All of these Lights
Tom Hughes | The Boom, the Bar and the Bathroom
Isabella Chayter-Waddy | Flotsam
Summer O'Dwyer | The Difference of a Bullet
2015 KM Short Story Award
Guest judge Kate De Goldi (not pictured). The award ceremony was held at Old St Paul's and the winner was Augusta Collett from Wellington East Girls' College with 'The Autologist'.