Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement 2021
The annual Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement recognise New Zealand writers who have made a notable contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. New Zealanders are invited to submit a nomination.
Amount:
$60,000 in each category
Find out who got funded recently
Artforms funded:
Funding rounds
Who can be nominated
Nominees must:
- be a living New Zealand writer
- be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
- be a writer whose work has received acclaim and been acknowledged by their peers and the general public
- not be a previous recipient of the award in any genre — see previous recipients
Criteria
Acclaim and acknowledgement of the writer will be shown by having:
- written a body of work that has received national acclaim
- received a major fellowship, residency, book award and/or international recognition
- shown leadership in the New Zealand literary sector.
Who can make a nomination?
- Only New Zealand citizens, residents and organisations may make a nomination.
- Writers may also nominate themselves.
- Employees of Creative New Zealand, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and members of the Arts Council may not make nominations or be nominated.
Award categories
One award is made each year in each of three categories:
- Fiction: any genre including novels, short stories, plays, children’s fiction, and scriptwriting.
- Non-fiction: any non-fiction discipline is acceptable with the quality of the work being the main determinant.
- Poetry.
Downloads
How to nominate a writer
- Download and complete the nomination form above. You don’t need to register or log into the portal.
- If you would like a Word (docx) form instead, we can email you this. Just email funding@creativenz.govt.nz
- Email your nomination form to pmawards@creativenz.govt.nz by 1pm on Monday 12 July 2021. (No late nominations will be accepted).
You can only nominate one writer per category. Complete a separate nomination form for each category.
Nominations are assessed on how well they honour the purpose of the award, which is to recognise New Zealand writers who have made a notable contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
We look for the following indicators:
- The nominee’s body of written work has received national acclaim.
- The nominee has received a major fellowship, residency, book award and/or international recognition.
- The nominee has displayed leadership in the New Zealand literary sector.
Scoring nominations
Our assessors use the following assessment scale to score each indicator:
3 – Outstanding – Exceeds the indicator
2 – Good – Satisfies the indicator
1 – Poor – Does not meet the indicator
Who assesses your nomination
Nominations are assessed by an external panel who are convened for these awards. The panel will comprise of registered peer assessors with expertise across the literary sector. Recommendations are forwarded to the Arts Council for approval.
Nominate peer assessors for our funding programmes
External peer assessors are asked to evaluate a range of applications made to Creative New Zealand’s funding programmes and initiatives against specific criteria.
Notification
The recipients of the awards will be contacted following the approval of the recommended recipients by the Arts Council in late August.
Public announcement
The awards are announced in a media release. We will list award recipients on our website.
Awards presentation
The recipients are invited to an official function to receive their awards in October 2021.
No further action is required of recipients after the awards have been presented to them.
For more information or advice email funding@creativenz.govt.nz
