The Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize winner receives $3000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall.
Writers from Aotearoa are invited to submit essays that engage with and reflect on our culture. Join a tradition of bold, thought-provoking writing and contribute to the ongoing conversation shaping our literary landscape.
Entries are open and must be received by 31 May 2025.
The 2025 judge is Tina Makereti.
Conditions of entry
- Open to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents only.
- Essays must be fully developed, independent and original works, not generated by AI at any stage.
- Essays must not exceed 4000 words.
- Essays can be on any topic of the author’s choosing.
- Essays must not have been published elsewhere or be under consideration by any other competition or publisher during the competition period.
- Essays must not infringe any existing copyright and must contain nothing of a defamatory nature.
- One entry per person.
- Entries will be assessed by the judge, who reserves the right not to award a prize.
- No correspondence with the judge will be entered into.
- Landfall reserves the right to publish the winning and shortlisted entries at the editor’s discretion.
- The winning writer’s name and photograph may be used for publicity purposes.
How to enter
- Email your essay as a Word or .rtf file to landfall@otago.ac.nz
- Use ‘Landfall Tauraka Essay Prize’ in the subject line.
- Do not include your name on the essay itself.
- In the body of the email, include your name, address and telephone number.
Past winners and short-listed authors
- 2024
Joint 1st: Franchesca Walker and Hannah August
3rd: Kate Duignan
Highly commended: Joan Fleming, Amelia Reynolds, Catherine Russ, Diane Brown
Commended: Julie Hill, Rebekah Galbraith, Majella Cullinane, Marilyn Wright - 2023
1st: Siobhan Harvey
2nd: Tīhema Baker
Highly commended: Liz Breslin, Hannah August, Pennie Hunt, Jillian Sullivan
Commended: Sylvan Spring, Kathryn van Beek, Joseph Trinidad, Anne Marie Basquin - 2022
1st: Tina Makereti
2nd: Maggie Sturgess
Highly commended: Nadine Hura, Claire Mabey, Gill James
Commended: Michael Moore-Jones, Charlotte Doyle, Jessica Ducey, Maddie Ballard - 2021
1st: Andrew Dean
2nd: Claire Mabey
3rd: Susan Wardell
Highly commended: Norman Franke, Susanna Elliffe
Commended: Ethan Te Ora, Alexis O’Connell, Jayne Costelloe, Bonnie Etherington - 2020
1st: A.M. McKinnon
2nd: Tan Tuck Ming
3rd equal: Anna Blair, Siobhan Harvey
Highly commended: Sarah Barnett, Shelley Burne-Field, Anna Knox, Una Cruickshank - 2019
Joint 1st: Tobias Buck, Nina Mingya Powles
3rd: Sarah Harpur
4th equal: Joan Fleming, Jillian Sullivan
Highly commended: Ingrid Horrocks, Himali McInnes, Derek Schulz - 2018
1st: Alice Miller
2nd: Susan Wardell
3rd: Sam Keenan - 2017
Joint 1st: Laurence Fearnley, Alie Benge
Shortlisted: Ingrid Horrocks, Lynley Edmeades, Sue Wootton, Kate Camp, Mark Houlahan - 2016
1st: Airini Beautrais
2nd: Michalia Arathimos
3rd: Carolyn Cossey - 2015
1st: Tracey Slaughter
2nd: Phil Braithwaite
3rd: Louise Wallace
Highly commended: Therese Lloyd - 2014
1st: Diana Bridge
Runners-up: Sarah Bainbridge, Simon Thomas, Scott Hamilton - 2013
1st: Tim Corballis
Runners-up: Eva Ng, Maggie Rainey-Smith - 2012
1st: Elizabeth Smither
Runners-up: Majella Cullinane, Jane Williamson - 2011
1st: Philip Armstrong
Runner-up: Siobhan Harvey
Commended: Ruth Nichol, Raewyn Alexander, Natalie Kershaw - 2010
1st: Ian Wedde - 2009
1st: Ashleigh Young - 2008
1st: Alice Miller, Kirsten Warner - 2006
1st: Anna Sanderson - 2004
1st: Martin Edmond, Tze Ming Mok - 2002
1st: Patrick Evans, Kapka Kassabova - 1999
1st: C.K. Stead, Peter Wells - 1997
1st: Gregory O’Brien, Joris de Bres