Inaugural Te Pae Tawhiti Awards Winners announced

Held at Te Whare Taapere Iti, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, the evening featured a keynote by Pip Adam and a panel discussion moderated by Lee Murray, with Pip Adam, David Hair, Jade Kake and Gareth Ward.

'The inaugural Te Pae Tawhiti awards have been a great success,' says convenor A.J. Ponder. 'The committee was thrilled with the quality of writing and were impressed with the creative approach across all the entries. It was such a high calibre of entries, and we were absolutely thrilled to present the winners.'

The Outstanding Achievement for Adult Novel went to The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey, with judges praising the tight point of view, great dialogue and fantastic plotting and pacing. The award was given for its effective build-up of tension, a chilling plot twist, and a satisfying ending.

The entries for the Short Story Award were praised for the strength of their prose, characterisation, and passion across all finalists. But the award went to The Cold Burns by Anne Wilkins whose emotional weight and groundwork done in foreshadowing its twists made it stand out from the rest.

It was the strong New Zealand content and original themes that led to Blood Protectors by Sue Carpenter taking the award for the Outstanding Achievement for a Collection or Anthology. And the Outstanding Achievement for a Novella was awarded to Marie Cardno for Dear Diary due to the inventive approach and high-quality storytelling, with judges saying it was a pleasure to read.

Winning the Middle Grade Fiction Award, Draconic Search and Rescue by Robinne L Weiss impressed the judges with its meticulous research and the strong emotional impact it left with readers. And Truth Needs No Colour by Heather McQuillan took away the award for Young Adult Fiction due to the exceptional narrative voice and emotionally grounded storytelling.

The award for Outstanding Service to Speculative Fiction was presented to Dr. Kirsten McGavin, (anthropologist, writer, and editor) in recognition of her championing of speculative fiction. In her work Kirsten promotes using the speculative fiction as a tool to explore important — and sometimes traumatic — topics in Pacific history and identity.

A special award for Outstanding Service to Speculative Fiction was presented to Lee Murray for her decades of advocating for Aotearoa NZ speculative writing and specifically her expertise and commitment guiding the Te Pae Tawhiti committee.

There were 17 judges and 6 coordinators across the 6 categories. 'A special thanks to our judge coordinators: Tracie McBride, Julia Keogh-Cope, Grace Bridges, Dany Miller, Helen Vivienne Fletcher. And to our judges: Mary Jone, Celine Murray, Tim Jones, Sharon Manssen, Sharron McKenzie, Renee van de Weert, Darian Smith, Sonny Whitelaw, AJ Woolf, Kim Jackways, Deryn Pittar, Caye Marsh, Zoë Meager, Julie Folkers, Cassie Hart, Judy L Mohr, Denika Mead, Melissa Gunn and Kirsten McKenzie. They have done a tremendous job,' said Sharon Manssen, President of SpecFicNZ. 'The quality and depth of the entries was impressive, and the judges have done a phenomenal job choosing the winners.'

Te Pae Tawhiti Distant Horizon Awards are supported by Creative New Zealand and Copyright Licensing New Zealand.

See here for ten of the finalists' thoughts on writing speculative fiction.