NZSA 2014 YOUTH MENTORSHIPS ANNOUNCED

Three lucky secondary school students are to work with three of New Zealand’s best professional authors in order to hone their writing skills and develop their craft.

The  2014 recipients are Sophie van Waardenberg from Auckland, Devon Webb from Auckland and Isabelle McNeur from Christchurch.

They will be mentored by award-winning poet Sue Wootton and award-winning novelists Sarah Laing, and Karen Trebilcock.

The NZSA Youth Mentoring Programme is offered to three secondary school students (15-18) every year nationally and the mentorships are hotly contested.

Selection panel convenor, author Anna Mackenzie, said the three judges were all impressed by the overall standard of entries and the selection process was very difficult as a result.

The Youth Mentorships are offered by the NZSA with the intent of fostering and developing emerging writing talent with the support of established authors. The NZSA has run a highly successful mentoring programme for writers since 1999 and it is sponsored by Creative New Zealand.