$25,000 CLNZ | NZSA Writers' Award 2025 Opens

The CLNZ | NZSA Writers' Award of $25,000 is one of the highest value non-fiction prizes in New Zealand literature and it is now open for applications.

He $25,000 te nui o te Karāti Kaituhi o te CLNZ me te NZSA, te karāti mātua mo ngā pakimaero-pono o ngā momo-tuhinga o Aotearoa. Ka taea e ngā Kaituhi te tuku tono mō tēnei karāti.

• Awards $25,000 cash grant to a New Zealand writer
• Assists with research and associated costs
• Is one of the highest value prizes awarded for non-fiction in New Zealand
• Is open now for entries

The award was established to provide financial support for writers wishing to devote time to a specific project, and to cover reasonable research expenses relating to it. Writers with work in a broad range of non-fiction genres, including educational works, can apply.

The Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) and the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA) Writers' Award has supported the creation of Rebecca Macfie's book Helen Kelly: Her Life (Awa Press), a biography of one of New Zealand’s political legends; Nic Low's book Uprising: Walking the Southern Alps of New Zealand (Text); the creation of Nick Bollinger's Ockham award-winning book Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa / New Zealand (AUP), Iona Winter’s creative non-fiction project, A counter of moons (Steele Roberts Aotearoa, releasing in 2025) and the publication of Jade Kake’s book, Rewi: Āta haere, kia tere (MUP), a tribute to the late architect Rewi Thompson.

Last year, writer and historian Mark Derby won for his project with the working title Outlaw Prophet – Hakaraia Māhika and the Tauranga Wars. He says, “The northeast Bay of Plenty, where my new book is set, is a long way from my home in Wellington, and not cheap to get to. I’ve been researching this book on and off for years in my own time, but the CLNZ | NZSA Writers’ Award gave me the boost to really commit to writing it. I’d done a few books already, but I’ve never written fulltime until I received this financial support. Then, a few months later, I got a call from Hakaraia’s descendants, inviting me to take part in a wānanga to share their knowledge of him. Because I had a travel budget, I could agree without hesitation. I think this book will be very much better for the support I’ve had from the CLNZ / NZSA fund.”

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