The Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing was set up in 1996 by benefactors Denis and Verna Adam. It is awarded to an outstanding MA student at the

International Institute of Modern Letters The International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) ( mi, Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o te Ao) is a centre of creative writing based within Victoria University of Wellington. Founded in 2001, the IIML offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses (i ...

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Z ...

History

The Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing was set up in 1996 by Denis and Verna Adam (through the Victoria University Foundation), to further their wish of encouraging and supporting the development of creative writing in New Zealand. Denis and Verna Adam were art collectors and philanthropists who established the Adam Foundation in 1975 to house their art collection and later to support the arts in general, believing that art “nurtures the finer instincts of human beings”.

Denis Adam Denis Frederick Adam (born Dieter Frederick Adam; 1 February 1924 – 17 October 2018) was a New Zealand businessman and patron of the arts. Born in Berlin, he relocated to England with his Jewish family at a young age soon after the Nazis cam ...

died in October 2018, aged 94. In 2009, the Prize was awarded for the first time to a work of creative non-fiction and in 2014, a young adult novel, described by

Mal Peet Malcolm Charles Peet (5 October 1947 – 2 March 2015) was an English author and illustrator best known for young adult fiction. He has won several honours including the Brandford Boase, the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize, British child ...

as “richly imagined, sinisterly futuristic and morally complex,” was the first of its genre to win the award.

Eligibility and conditions

The prize is awarded annually to the author of the best page-based portfolio for the MA in creative writing in the International Institute of Modern Letters at

. It is awarded by the Academic Board on the recommendation of the Heads, School of English, Film and Theatre. The prize carries a monetary value (currently $3000) which may vary subject to available funds.

List of winners by year

1997:

Catherine Chidgey Catherine Chidgey (born 8 April 1970) is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer and university lecturer. Her honours include the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France; Best First Book at bo ...

. ''In a Fishbone Church'' (novel). Published by Victoria University Press (VUP), 1998. Winner: Best First Book of Fiction at the 1998 Montana Book Awards. 1998: William Brandt. ''Alpha Male'' (short fiction). Published by VUP, 1999, and subsequently published by Jonathan Cape. Winner: Best First Book of Fiction at the 1999 Montana Book Awards. 1999: No award made. 2000: Tim Corballis. ''Below'' (novel). Published by VUP, 2001. 2001: Paula Morris. ''Queen of Beauty'' (novel). Published by Penguin, 2002. Winner: Best First Book of Fiction at the 2003 Montana Book Awards. 2002: Cliff Fell. ''The Adulterer's Bible'' (poetry). Published by VUP, 2003. Winner: Best First Book of Poetry at the 2004 Montana Book Awards. 2003: Josh Greenberg. ''A Man who Eats the Heart'' (novel). Published by VUP, 2004. 2004: Emily Dobson. ''A Box of Bees'' (poetry). Published by VUP, 2005. 2005:

Michele Amas Michele Louise Amas (8 October 1961 – 26 December 2016) was a New Zealand actress of stage, screen, television and radio, poet and playwright. She began writing poetry at age 10 and began her professional acting career in 1980. Amas wrote and d ...

. ''After the Dance'' (poetry). Published by VUP, 2006. Shortlisted for the

New Zealand Society of Authors The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN New Zealand Inc.) promotes and protects the interests of New Zealand writers. It was founded as the New Zealand PEN Centre (Poets, Essays and Novelists) in 1934. It broadened its scope and became the New Ze ...

' Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry at the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. 2006: Anna Taylor. ''Going Under: Storie''s (short story collection). Published as ''Relief'' by VUP, 2009. 2007:

Eleanor Catton Eleanor Catton (born 24 September 1985) is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International In ...

. ''The Rehearsal'' (novel). Published by VUP, 2008 and subsequently by Granta in the UK (2009) and Little Brown in the US (2010). Winner of the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction at the 2009 Montana NZ Book Awards, and of the 2009 UK Society of Authors'

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

. 2008: Lynn Jenner. ''Dear Sweet Harry'' (mixed genre). Published by Auckland University Press, 2010. Winner of the 2011 New Zealand Society of Authors' Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. 2009:

Ashleigh Young Ashleigh Young (born 1983) is a poet, essayist, editor and creative writing teacher. She received the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2017 for her second book, a collection of personal essays titled ''Can You Tolerate This?'' which also won ...

. ''Can You Tolerate This?'' (personal essays). Winner of the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction 2017 and the 2017 Windham Campbell Prize in Nonfiction. 2010: Rayne Cockburn. ''Someplace for Boys'' (novel). 2011:

Hera Lindsay Bird Hera Lindsay Bird (born 31 December 1987) is a New Zealand poet. Life and career Hera Lindsay Bird was born and raised in Thames in the North Island of New Zealand. She attended Victoria University of Wellington and then received her Master's d ...

. ''And Together We Fight Crime'' (prose poetry collection). 2012: Kerry Donovan Brown. ''Lamplighter'' (novel). Published by VUP, 2014. 2013: Helena Wiśniewska Brow. ''Give Us This Day: a memoir of family and exile''. Published by VUP, 2014. 2014: Craig Gamble. ''The Watch List'' (young-adult novel). 2015: Nick Bollinger. ''Goneville'' (music memoir). Published by AWA Press, 2016. 2016: Annaleese Jochems. ''And Lower'' (novel). Published as ''Baby'', VUP, 2017. 2017:

Tayi Tibble Tayi Tibble (born 1995) is a New Zealand poet. Her poetry reflects Māori culture and her own family history. Her first collection of poetry, ''Poūkahangatus'' (2018), received the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand B ...

. ''In a Fish Tank Filled with Pink Light'' (poetry collection). Published as ''Poūkahangatus'', VUP, 2018. Winner of the Jessie Mackay award for the best first book of poetry at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. 2018: Laura Southgate. ''The Boyfriend'' (novel). 2019: Rebecca K Reilly. ''Vines'' (novel). Published as ''Greta & Valdin'' by Victoria University Press, 2021. Winner of the Hubert Church award for the best first book of fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. 2020: Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall. ''Tauhou.'' 2021: Sharron Came. ''Peninsula'' (novel).

References

{{Reflist

External links

* List o
Prize Winners
at International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand fiction awards 1996 establishments in New Zealand

History

Eligibility and conditions

List of winners by year

See also

References

External links