NEW ZEALAND AUTHORS RECOGNISED WITH TOP LITERARY PRIZES

- Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Unpublished Manuscript and Book Awards -

Authors Keith Hill and Dr. Mike Godfrey have each been awarded $10,000 for literary excellence at the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Unpublished Manuscript and Book Awards, presented at Auckland’s Hopetoun Alpha venue on Friday 16 August.   

The awards, run in association with the New Zealand Society of Authors, are in their tenth year and recognise excellence in writing in the mind, body, spirit genre.

Trustee Adonia Wylie, says the 2013 awards attracted a significant response from New Zealand writers.

“The 2013 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Unpublished Manuscript at Book Awards received an impressive number of written works and the calibre of entries submitted was very high.”

Keith Hill won the $10,000 award in the unpublished manuscript category for his work, Practical Spirituality- How to Discover and Realise your Life Plan.

Hill was also a winner in 2011 in the Ashton Wylie Published Book Awards for his work, The God Revolution.

Judge William Taylor said that he produced an excellent work that is readily accessible to the general reader.

“Not only is Mr. Hill a leader in this genre, he is also a fine writer who demonstrates great competency in handling his subject.”

Dr. Mike Godfrey won the $10,000 award in the book category for his work, What’s the Matter? – A Doctor’s Journey into our Innate Spirituality.

Dr. Godfrey’s spent ten years on the book and William Taylor describes it as very sincere and a work that most certainly embraces the mind, body, spirit genre.

“The book traverses much ground as he considers healing in a variety of ways that range beyond the conventional and it is easy to understand that he must have encountered significant opposition from conservative elements in his chosen profession; medicine.”

Judges for the 2013 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards were William Taylor, Adonia Wylie and Ian Creuson-Foot.

Gavin Bishop, an award winning children’s picture book writer and illustrator, and Jenny Cole, publisher at Cape Catley, were guest speakers at the event.