Landfall Essay Competition Explained

The Landfall Essay Competition is an annual competition open to New Zealand writers. It is judged by the current editor of the long-running literary magazine Landfall and the winning entry is published in a subsequent issue of the magazine.

History

The Landfall Essay Competition was first held in 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the literary magazine Landfall. It was begun by Chris Price, who was editor at the time, and was sponsored by the Otago University Press. The competition has been awarded annually since 2009 and is judged each year by the current editor. 

The aim of the competition 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, named for Landfall founder Charles Brasch, was launched, which is an annual award open to young writers between the ages of 16 and 21.^{[3] [4]}

In 2019, Strong Words 2019: The Best of the Landfall Essay Competition was published, featuring shortlisted competition entries selected by Emma Neale, then editor of Landfall.^[5] It was selected by The Spinoff as one of the ten best non-fiction works of 2019.^[6]

Eligibility and conditions

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 1500 words.
• 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. The winner receives $3000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall.^[1]

List of winners by year

• 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.
• 2022: Tina Makereti^[14]
• 2023: Xiaole Zhan.^[15]

See also

• List of New Zealand literary awards

External links

• Landfall magazine

Notes and References

1. Web site: Otago University Press: Landfall Essay Competition . 18 May 2022 . University of Otago: Te Whare Wananga o Otago.
2. Web site: Awards and Competitions. Unesco City of Literature Dunedin. 15 January 2019.
3. News: Lewis . John . Pupil’s plea for climate adaptation wins prize . 18 May 2022 . Otago Daily Times . 20 May 2021.
4. Web site: Charles Brasch Young Writers Essay Competition . Read NZ Te Pou Muramura . 18 May 2022.
5. News: Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending December 6 . 18 May 2022 . The Spinoff . 6 December 2019.
6. News: The 10 best New Zealand non-fiction books of 2019 . 18 May 2022 . The Spinoff . 14 December 2019.
7. Web site: Landfall Essay Competition: Conditions of Entry . Otago University Press . 18 May 2022.
8. Web site: Race you there - Tze Ming Mok co-winner of the 2004 Landfall Essay Prize. 28 January 2005. The Big Idea. 15 January 2019.
9. Web site: An edition to savour. Green. Paula. 4 March 2010. The New Zealand Herald. 15 January 2019.
10. Web site: Another win for Dr Slaughter. 14 September 2015. The University of Waikato: Te Whare Wananga o Waikato. 15 January 2019.
11. Web site: International Institute of Modern Letters: Airini Beautrais wins 2016 Landfall Essay Competition. 3 November 2016. Victoria University of Wellington. 15 January 2019.
12. Web site: Landfall Essay Competition Winner: Umlaut. 5 December 2016. Pantograph Punch. 15 January 2019.
13. Web site: Landfall Essay Competition winners share prize for radically different topics. 6 November 2017. Booksellers NZ. https://web.archive.org/web/20190115183902/https://www.booksellers.co.nz/news/landfall-essay-competition-winners-share-prize-radically-different-topics. 15 January 2019. dead.
14. Web site: Makereti . Tina . 2022-11-27 . Lumpectomy . 2023-12-16 . The Spinoff . en.
15. News: Zhan . Xiaole . 2023-06-07 . Muscle Memory: winner of the 2023 Charles Brasch Young Writers’ Essay Competition . en . The Spinoff . 2023-12-16.