Shortlist for the $10,000 Text Prize announced
Booksellers NZ

The shortlist for the 2010 Text Prize was announced last week, and it includes two novels by New Zealanders.The winner will be announced on Monday next, 12 July.
The number of entries was down slightly in this the third year of the prize, but the standard was even more impressive.

This year Text has shortlisted two novels by New Zealanders and three by Australians. Three of the top five manuscripts are by unpublished authors and two by authors with works already in print.

The manuscripts' themes range from the supernatural to war, an online youth newspaper to time travel - to a slug that poos diamonds.

The shortlist is:

Haunting the Dead, Tiffany Chapple
The Diamond Factory, Julie Harris-Spearritt
Breken Crossing, Jane Higgins (NZ)
Youth Bytes, Stephen Turner
How to Talk to Girls, Philippa Werry (NZ)

The Text Prize is awarded annually to the best manuscript written for a young adult or children's readership by an Australian or New Zealand author. The winner receives $10,000 and a publishing contract.

The prize has previously unearthed gems such as Wanganui-born Richard Newsome's THE BILLIONAIRE'S CURSE (which is shortlisted for the Esther Glen Award this year and an Australian Book Industry Award, announced tonight in Sydney) and Leanne Hall's forthcoming THIS IS SHYNESS (out in August).

The 2010 winner will be announced at the Australian Booksellers Association conference in Brisbane on Monday 12 July, on the Text website later that day.