Adam Foundation Prize awarded to Niamh Vaughan

Niamh Vaughan is this year’s winner of the prestigious Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. The winner of the Biggs Family Prize for Poetry is Will Salmon.

Niamh’s memoir, The World Reversed, waswritten as part of her Master of Arts in Creative Writing folio at the University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML). It tells the story of a young woman’s dawning understanding of the conspiracy theories her father has raised her with, and her eventual escape from their shadow as she reaches adulthood. Examiners described it as “an intimate and illuminating memoir on a subject of contemporary importance. Niamh tells her story exceptionally well, in supple and lyrical prose, and in scenes that are both hilarious and terrifying.”

Niamh is from Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and grew up just down the hill from Te Herenga Waka’s Kelburn campus. Prior to her MA, she completed a BA in English Literature and Classical Studies at the University.

Niamh says, “I am shaking my head in disbelief,” at winning the award.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Adam Foundation, the encouragement of my convenor and supervisor, Chris Price, and the consistent mahi my workshop group put into my writing throughout the course of the MA. I'm one writer built by many others. Ngā mihi nui to everyone who lent their insights to my work this year.”

Supported by Wellingtonians Verna Adam and the late Denis Adam through the Victoria University Foundation, the $5,000 Adam Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding student in the MA in Creative Writing programme.

The winner of the Biggs Family Prize for Poetry is Will Salmon, a writer also based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Supported by Peter and Mary Biggs, the $5,000 Biggs Family Prize is awarded to one of the most promising poetry folios produced during the MA year. Examiners commended the confidence, tonal control and clarity of the collection’s poetic voice: “This thesisoccupies a hybrid terrain where personal memory becomes inseparable from its digital background, and where emotional states manifest as linguistic glitches, delays, static, and feedback loops. Underlying all this is a deeply humane concern: how do people hold one another in moments of private and collective unravelling?”

Will says being awarded the prize was “unbelievably encouraging”.

“I can't begin to say how thankful I am. This year has been a massive privilege, and I owe the time I've had to so many, including my class, and my convenor, Chris Price, who were everything. Also my supervisor, James Brown, the best reader I've ever had. Thank you infinitely. I wouldn't be a quarter of the writer I am without you. And thank you, as well, to the Biggs family for their generosity in offering this prize. This support means the world.”

IIML Director, Damien Wilkins, says the winning writers contributed to a talented class. “These two winners are remarkable new voices, but they represent only a small percentage of the huge talent across our graduating class of 30 writers.”

Extracts from both prize-winning works are available to read online in the 2025 edition of the IIML’s literary journal Turbine | Kapohau, which was launched last night.

Previous Adam Foundation Prize recipients include authors Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall, Rebecca K Reilly, Eleanor Catton, Ashleigh Young, Hera Lindsay Bird, and Tayi Tibble. Previous Biggs Family Prize winners include Nafanua Purcell Kersel, Nina Mingya Powles, Bill Nelson, Morgan Bach, Joanna Cho, and Sam Duckor-Jones.

Photo caption: From left: Adam Foundation representative Chris Finlayson, Adam Foundation prize winner Niamh Vaughan, IIML senior lecturer Chris Price, Biggs Family Prize winner Will Salmon, Mary Biggs and Peter Biggs.