Andy’s tale is a winner

Anne Wilkins, winner of the Short Story competition with judges, Denise Irvine, left, and Venetia Sherson, right. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.

Anne Wilkins knows she must be doing something right after winning the Cambridge Autumn Festival Short Story competition.

As she wiped away tears during a photo shoot with judges, former Waikato Times editor Venetia Sherson and columnist Denise Irvine, at the festival opening in the Cambridge Town Hall last week, Wilkins spoke of how writers needed to have thick skins and be used to rejections.

Cambridge parents-in-law Jackie and Phill Shakesby are the Auckland school-teacher’s biggest supporters and have always encouraged her to enter the festival competition.

Her story Cracks was about Andy, an autistic child, dealing with loss. The theme for the competition was A Hard Day’s Work.

“For Andy he sees the world a little bit differently and he has a hard job to do, but also the adults around him have hard lives as well. I haven’t had anyone in my classes like Andy, but I certainly know of children like him. I do however have an elastic caterpillar that can be pulled and stretched, like the one in the story,” she said.

“There are not many opportunities for writers here in New Zealand. Most competitions cost money, it seems many magazines and publishers don’t allow unsolicited submissions of manuscripts or have limited time periods where you can submit, and some magazines even require a ‘reading fee’ to read your short story before they consider whether they will accept it or not. Writing is not something you do to get rich. It is something you do because you enjoy it.”

That is the beauty of the Cambridge competition, it is free to enter, said Wilkins.

There were 190 entries which compares favourably to the first year when there were only 52.

“Any of these stories is worthy of publication for a wider audience,” said Sherson who said Wilkins’ story shone.

“Beautifully written, spare language, restrained. Very poignant and right on topic.”

Fellow judges Hamish Wright and Jill Carter said the standard of entries was exceptionally high.

Wellington’s Lucy Mouland was second with Lifelong Learning and third equal went to Joseph Janiszewski of Auckland with The Fireman and Dunedin’s Nethmi Peiris with Cicada’s Song.

Read: Inside the mind of Andy.

Anne Wilkins

More Recent News

Libraries – ‘more than books’

The man helping take Waipā District Libraries’ public services into the age of technology has been nuts about computers since he was about four. Now in his late 20s, Joe Poultney is a self-confessed techno-nerd…

Fears over waste plan

The proposal to build a waste to energy plant in Te Awamutu is the antithesis of all the district stands for, says Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan. O’Regan appeared before an independent Board of Inquiry in…

Five councils take the plunge

Ōtorohanga District Council led the way last week as the first of five councils to decide to hand its drinking and waste water over to a council-controlled water authority. Ōtorohanga councillors voted to join stage…

Brilliant bare necessities

The deft hands of a veterinary surgeon and scientist are the same hands that have crafted the brilliant costumes for the upcoming St Peter’s Catholic School production of The Jungle Book. The three performances in…