Congratulations To The Talented Student Writers Awarded NZSA Youth Mentorships In 2025!

Four secondary school students selected for mentorships will each be matched with a professional writer/mentor in their genre, as part of the NZ Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) 2025 Youth Mentorship Programme.

The young writers will hone their writing skills and develop their craft through the year, working on their chosen writing project. We congratulate them on their success.

2025 Youth Mentorships have been awarded to:

• Jayden Cox - Rutherford College (Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland)
• Madison Heta - Aparima College (Otautau)
• Isabella Jones - St Catherines (Te Whanganui-a-Tara | Wellington)
• Eleazar Kenese - McAuley High School (Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland)

Award-winning writer Tina Shaw, who convened the judging panel along with writer Cristina Schumacher, said that: ‘It was very difficult to choose a shortlist this year from so many talented young writers. The projects ranged from fantasy and dystopic fiction to political poetry, and showed that young writers are thinking seriously about their writing.’

Congratulations also to the highly commended student writers: 

Samuela Dsouza from Auckland Girls' Grammar School (Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland) and 

Eassin Wang from St Cuthbert's College, (Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland).

The NZSA Youth Mentorship Programme was established in 2010 to foster and develop emerging writing talent around Aotearoa New Zealand with the support of established authors. NZSA Chief Executive Jenny Nagle says "Over the last 30 years NZSA's mentor programmes have proven themselves to be a valuable development pipeline for emerging writers. We wish these writers well with their projects this year."

Youth Mentorship is one of The New Zealand Society of Authors successful mentoring programmes for writers and is made possible with the support by Creative New Zealand.

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