Storylines launches te reo Māori manuscript award

Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust has announced a new award for an unpublished manuscript written in te reo Māori, reports Booksellers NZ. 

The new award is named in honour of language advocate, educator, artist and writer Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira, who helped to revive and revitalise the Māori language, leading to the growth of the Kura Kaupapa Māori (Māori immersion) in New Zealand schools.

The award will be delivered annually, and is open to writers of an unpublished manuscript for children or young adults in te reo Māori in any genre (picture book, junior fiction, YA fiction, nonfiction). The manuscript submissions must be original works in te reo Māori and not translations of books that have already been published in English.

The winning author will be offered a publishing contract with Huia Publishers and a cash prize of $1500 provided by Massey University. The inaugural Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira Award will be presented at the Storylines Margaret Mahy National Awards Day in April 2020.

Storylines Trust chair Christine Young said: ‘We hope that it will not only lead to publication of new works for Māori tamariki and rangatahi by writers in te reo Māori, but that it will also raise awareness of the need and opportunities to publish—and read—works in te reo Māori.’

Entries are now open for the 2020 award, with submissions due by 31 October. Award guidelines are available on the Storylines website.

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Category: Awards Junior Local news