Who Will Be New Zealand’s Masters Scrabble Champion For 2026?

The top 24 Scrabble players in New Zealand will be descending on Whanganui this Easter weekend to decide who will be New Zealand’s 42nd Masters Champion

One of the three premier events in New Zealand’s Scrabble calendar, the Masters crown is hotly contested over 23 games. Following last year’s successful debut, for the second time, this tournament will be livestreamed to an international audience with live commentary from expert Scrabblers from several countries. The public can watch for free on the NZ Scrabble YouTube channel: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8cHYhJUd2w

The current NZ Masters champion is Dylan Early (Wellington) who is also the 2025 NZ Nationals Champion and six-time South African National Champion. Trying to wrest the title from him are several New Zealand Scrabble Grand Masters and world ranked players including:

Howard Warner (Wairarapa): 13 time Masters champion, 12 time NZ Nationals champion and currently ranked #1 in New Zealand

Chris Tallman (Mt Albert): Currently ranked #2 in New Zealand, Chris has won 11 NZ tournaments in the past 2 years but is still looking for a win in a “major”.

Lewis Hawkins (Christchurch): Aged 21, Lewis first played in the Masters at age 12 and was 3rd in last year’s Masters and 2nd at last year’s NZ Nationals – a star on the rise

Andrew Bradley (Mt Albert): The 2023 NZ Masters champ, Andrew played in the very first Masters in 1984!

Cicely Bruce (Whangarei): The winner of the inaugural 2026 NZ Women’s Championship

Locals will be rooting for three Whanganui players– Anderina McLean (the Women’s Champs runner-up), Lynne Butler, and Rosemary Cleary all affiliate with the local Whanganui Scrabble Club.

Three of this year’s entrants are playing in the tournament for the first time – Laura Griffiths (Christchurch), Sue McRae (Masteron) and Yoon Kim Fong (Hamilton).

Scrabble is a very popular game in New Zealand and competition at all levels in the national championship is fierce but also lots of fun. Masters participants this year are from every part of New Zealand and are of all ages and occupations.

You are welcome to attend the event, film it, take photographs and talk to players.

The media is more than welcome to use clips from our YouTube channel in their coverage of this event – we ask that if you use our footage, please include visible attribution: “Scrabble New Zealand on YouTube” or www.youtube.com/@ScrabbleNZ

For more information about the tournament contact: Chris Tallman, Secretary of Scrabble NZ, 0274 520 941 or email him at chrishtallman@gmail.com

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE MASTERS

• The first NZ Scrabble Masters was in 1984 and hosted by Tauranga/Mt Maunganui.
• The previous two champions were Howard Warner (Wellington/Wairarapa) in 2024 and Andrew Bradley (Mt Albert) in 2023.
• Two players playing in this year’s tournament played in the very first edition 43 years ago – Andrew Bradley (Mt. Albert) and Glenyss Buchanan (Lower Hutt)
• Masters is an invitational tournament - the top 24 interested players on the NZ Scrabble rankings list at the end of the previous year qualify.
• To qualify for the rankings list, players need to have played at least 40 tournament games in NZ over the previous two years.
• Masters Champions get their names added to the prestigious perpetual trophy - the Masters Shield. There is also a Runner Up Cup.
• Players are also competing for a $1000 NZD prize pool - the top 8 finishers will win money.
• The format is a 23-game single round robin
• NZ Masters, along with NZ Nationals and the Trans-Tasman Challenge, are the three “major” tournaments on the NZ tournament calendar.
• There are three first time Masters players this year bringing the number of players who have played in this event since 1984 to 133.
• The best ever record at the Masters was 21 wins to two losses - achieved by Mike Sigley in 2002, and by Jeff Grant (Hastings) in both 1993 and 1997.

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