Wellington Writer wins NZSA Asian Short Story Award

A delightful story by Wellington based Singaporean/Chinese writer Rosabel Tan took first prize at the inaugural
NZSA Asian Short Story Award ceremony in Auckland on Friday evening. Paper Butterflies won the first prize of
$3,000 which was kindly sponsored by Creative New Zealand.
A pleasing 42 entries were received and overall the judges were delighted with the quality. “The majority of stories
showed understanding of the fundamentals of good writing, compelling storytelling and character development”
commented Renee Laing. “Many of these stories, with good editing, could be submitted for further
competitions/publication.”
“It was especially wonderful to see the broad representation of stories and characters from South Asia, South East
Asia and North East Asia. Overall, we enjoyed a rich collection of stories – many centred on NZ with strong
themes of finding identity, coming to terms with family relationships, adapting to a new country, leaving an old
country, or realizing a change in society, country or self. “
Second place was awarded to Angelique Kasmara for her story Asians with Perms. Angelique received a cheque
for $1,000. Equal third was given to Lee Murray for The Red Cardigan and Latika Vasil for her story, Open Home.
The four stories are available on www.authors.org.nz.
The judging panel comprised Renee Laing, Sue Gee and Steven Eldred-Grigg.