Landfall Essay Competition
Posted: Monday May 06, 2024
Entries close 31 July 2024
Landfall Essay Competition, Awards and competitions, Otago University Press | University of Otago
About the competition
In 1997 Landfall celebrated its 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, then editor Chris Price launched the Landfall Essay Competition, sponsored by Otago University Press. From 2009, the competition has been an annual award.
The purpose of the competition remains as it was at the outset: 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 in this country – as embodied in the non-fiction of early Landfall contributors such as Bill Pearson, in the essays of past winners of this competition, and in the essays the journal continues to publish.
- Essays should not exceed 4000 words.
- The competition will be judged by the Landfall editor.
- The winner is announced and published in each November issue of Landfall.
- The winner receives $3000 and a year's subscription to Landfall.
- Entries for the 2024 Landfall Essay Competition must be received by 31 July 2024.
Conditions of entry
- Essays will be fully developed, independent works and will be no more than 4000 words long.
- Essays will be on a topic of the author's choosing.
- Essays will not have been published elsewhere.
- Writers will be New Zealand citizens or New Zealand permanent residents.
- One entry per person will be accepted.
- The judge will assess the merits of the essays and reserve the right not to award a prize. No correspondence with the judge will be entered into.
- Landfall reserves the right to publish the winning entry, and other shortlisted entries, at the editor's discretion.
- It is a condition of the competition that the winning writer's name and photograph may be used by Landfall for publicity purposes.
How to enter
- Email your essay as a Word or .rtf file to landfall@otago.ac.nz with 'Landfall Essay Competition' in the subject line. Your name should NOT appear on the essay itself.
- Include your name, address and telephone number in the body of the email.