Maria Williams Finalist in Katherine Mansfield Competition

Maria Williams has been recognised as a finalist for the Secondary School Katherine Mansfield’s Award for her story “Dear Amelia”. It is an amazing piece.

Mrs Lloyd-Parker and Ms Plant attended the Katherine Mansfield Awards at the National Library on the 8 September where Maria was joined by ten other writing peers and guest judge Tina Makereti (pictured above, right).

This is a fine achievement for a very capable writer and we congratulate her.

The full list of 2020 Finalists are:

Nadezhda Macey | Matahiwi (Winner)

Avni Labhsetwar | Hidden Sacrifices (Highly Commended)

Cadence Chung | The End of the World (Highly Commended)

Leila Barber | Memory

Gemma Bennion | Only July

Holly Inglis | The Matchmaker

Geneva King | The Red Trees

Valerie Villanueva | You Reap What You Sow

Georgia Wearing | Sumatra’s a Type of Tiger

Maria Williams | Dear Amelia

Oliver Errington | Untitled

See the official feedback by Katherine Mansfield House & Garden below:

Dear Chilton St James

Congratulations to your student Maria Williams on being selected as a finalist for the Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award 2020 with her story ‘Dear Amelia’.

We were thrilled to receive entries from throughout the Wellington region and it was a pleasure to encounter so many new voices and read such a diverse range of stories; stories that took us all over the country and the world (as well as some places that exist only in the imagination!), that gave us an insight into being a young person in Aotearoa today and into all sorts of other lives and experiences.

Our eleven short-listed students were presented with certificates by guest judge Tina Makereti at our annual award ceremony at the National Library on Tuesday night.

About Maria’s story Tina said: “A bus ride filled with sensory observations. A letter. Ink and tears. Who is the protagonist writing to and why? A great line: ‘Some emotions get caught in the commas.’ And finally, getting off the bus and moving on. This story has a lot going for it and an intriguing centre that is not quite revealed yet. I would love to know more about Amelia and her relationship with the writer of the letter, but maybe the mystery is important, and all we need to know is already there.”

The winning and short-listed stories are now online at: https://www.katherinemansfield.com/creative-corner/km-short-story-competition

I have attached photos taken at the award ceremony if you wish to include these in your school news – apologies for the average quality of some of the pictures.

Congratulations once again to Maria on her achievement.

Ngā mihi

Catherine Miller | House Co-ordinator
Katherine Mansfield House & Garden
25 Tinakori Road, Thorndon, Wellington 6011
PO Box 12006, Wellington 6011
(04) 473 7268