Money for writers

Breaking news from Copyright Licensing: applications are now open for a new $25,000 award for writers of non-fiction, including those who write for the education sector.

Applicants must be New Zealand citizens or permanent residents and writers of proven merit, and the resulting work should be likely to be accepted by a publisher. Applications should include:

 an outline of the proposed work, including a chapter outline.

 a statement as to how the proposed work will add to the body of work already published on the subject or to the genre

 if a biography or work relating to Maori, please indicate how the subject of the biography and/or their descendants and/or iwi will be consulted and involved in the research and publication of the book

 the names of referees. This is particularly important for applicants with limited or no history of being published

 expressions of interest from publishers etc. (Up to 4 pages; letters from publishers allowed in addition – up to 2 pages)

 a sample of writing from the proposed work (no less than 5 and not exceeding 10 pages). If a sample of alternative work is offered instead, it must be written in a style that same as that proposed for the project;

 a curriculum vitae with a list of main published works (no more than 3 pages).

Applications must be received by 4 p.m. on Thursday 23 June.  The winner will be announced in September. Full details and application forms etc are here.

Winner for Best First Book of non-fiction at the Ockham NZ Book Awards last night was Melissa Matutina Williams for Panguru and the City. She was a CLNZ Writers Award winner in 2011. Auspicious!