Four young writers now have a special opportunity to hone their writing skills and develop their craft under the mentorship of four of New Zealand’s finest professional authors.

The 2020 recipients of the NZSA Youth Mentorship spaces are:

Cadence Chung from Wellington High School 
Hannah Daniell from Cashmere High School 
Hannah Marshall from Tawa College 
Oshadha Perera from Southland Boys High School

 

Honourable mention also goes to the shortlisted writers: 
Maria Bascunan from Christchurch Girls' High School, Kenan Bulmer from Whitby Collegiate, Olivia Currie from Queens High School, Yasmine Darrell from Timaru Girls' High School, Isobelle Masters from Northcote College, Ella Quarmby from Otumoetai College, Imaan Suhail from Hillcrest High School, and Cathy Zeng from Logan Park High School.

 

Selection panel convenor, award-winning author Tina Shaw, who worked with poet Ivy Alvarez to reach a decision, commented “So many talented young writers ... it's a shame we can't give each one of them a mentorship! The range of applications was impressive in variety of subject matter and standard of writing, ranging from poetry to full-length novels, with themes that showed maturity and a keen interest in the world."

The NZSA Youth Mentorship Programme was established in 2010 to foster and develop emerging writing talent around New Zealand with the support of established authors.

It 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. More