2024

​ Deadline:     By 5 pm, Friday 26th July 2024 -CLOSED on 26th July 2024

 Categories:  

 Students:    Creative Writing of your choice: 
                       Maximum of up to three entries (of different genres) per student.
                       Words per Entry between 1000-1500 - Student Open Poetry Entries (up to 1000 words)     
                      Senior Students: Under 19 (as of 31st December 2023)
                      and Year 11 - 13 secondary students
                      Junior Students: Year 7 - 10 studying at a secondary school


 Adult        Open Poetry (up to 1000 words)
                    Maximum of 3 entries per person
                    $5.00 per entry

Audio:          Poetry entrants eligible to enter Open Written and or Open Audio categories,
​                      the same poem may be entered in both Written and Spoken Word Categories.


  Awards:      First Prize in all categories:  $250
                       Second Prize in all categories:  $150
                       Third Prize in all categories:  $100
​
Conditions of Entry:
  • Entries must be original and unpublished.
  • Writers must live in or have a home address in the Southland province, or in the Queenstown, Glenorchy, Arrowtown, Tapanui and Heriot areas.
  • Writers must register to enter. Please Click on Enter Here above, fill out details and upload your Entry by 5 pm, Friday 26th July 2024.
  • There is no entry fee for students. 
  • Adults must pay $5.00 per entry. Please pay by Internet Banking to 03-1746-0078140-00 REFERENCE: Initial and surname. A post office box number is available: Box 29, Invercargill 9840.
  • Entries must not defame any person or corporate body, nor infringe or breach any rights of copyright. 
  • The Dan Davin Literary Foundation reserves the right to publish any place-getting entry 
  • The judges decisions are final  
  • New Audio Category for Poetry Entries: Criteria: Open Poetry entrants eligible to enter Written and Audio category – Adult Entry Fee is $5.00 for both Categories – Judging Audio will be on Performance & Poem not on quality of recording – entering more than 1 spoken word entry need to do on separate files - limit of entries 3 x written and 3 audio.               
 Format:   
  • Your entry may be completed as a doc or google .doc with double line spacing, and in a clear 12-point font. Audio entries in wav or mp3 format.
  • Do not put your name on the document.      
  • Put the Title of your composition on your entry.                  

Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony to be held at the Kelvin Hotel on Friday, 30th August 2024  ​

Recording tips

  • We must be able to hear your words clearly and easily.  We appreciate that many people will record on their phones and the audio will not be studio quality.  This is absolutely fine, but you do need to work in a quiet room where you will not be interrupted.
  • Record your performance in one uninterrupted take.  This is not a recording competition, and it shouldn’t matter who is best at recording and editing.  If you make a major error, you will need to record your work again.  Then submit only your best take.
  • Judges will not consider sound effects or music.  The judges will only assess the quality of your words and how you deliver them.
  • Save your files in either .wav or .MP3 formats.  Other formats may be difficult for the judges to play, so please use one of these two widely-accepted formats.  Files that we cannot play will not be considered.
  • The filename should be the title of the work.  Do not include your name.  You should have filled out an entry form, and this will give us the information we need to find you.  The judges should not be able to see your name when they open the audio file.
  • If you have trouble recording, we may be able to help you.  If enough people express interest, we may have a recording workshop or dropin session where we can record your poem for you.  If you are interested in this, email [email protected] and we may be able to set something up. ​
  • If you win, we may publish your audio file on our website in the same way that we might publish a story or a poem.  All other conditions for entry are also the same as they would be for stories and poems.

2023

​This series of workshops facilitated by Airini Beutrais is aimed at generating new work and is suitable for writers of all levels of experience. We will look at examples of the craft of writing indifferent genres, and develop our own work using exercises that focus on the creative process. We will explore how to temporarily switch off the inner critic while writing, but also how to edit our work for clarity once the time is right. Writing in all genres can be accommodated and we can also incorporate different end goals ranging from writing for personal self-reflection through to writing for publication.
​Vivienne Plumb is an experienced writer and tutor and is the 2023 Dan Davin Literary Foundation Writer in Residence.
The courses will be composed of some actual writing, and also some discussion surrounding the important components needed to produce strong fiction and powerful poetry.
This is also a chance for participants to gain other information related to creative writing such as where to send your work, publication, how to invent your own project, funding information, and any other relevant questions you may have. 

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Dan Davin Literary Foundation [email protected]