Poet Apirana Taylor is a judge at this year's Ronald Hugh Morrieson Writing Awards.
Eleven writers from the wider Whanganui Region have been named finalists in the Ronald Hugh Morrieson Writing Awards.
Of the 237 to enter Taranaki's premiere literary competition, Hawera's Maria Cunningham, Bruce Finer and Pip Harrison are all finalists in the open section.
Secondary school finalists include Hawera High School's Niall
Clancy, Maddison Cossey, Sasha Finer, Noah Hunt, Heather Phillips, Yani Remoto and Georgia Sparks, and Patea Area School's Denzal Adlam.
This year's competition is being judged by renowned Maori poet and storyteller Apirana Taylor, novelist and Tessa Duder, award recipient Rachel Stedman and journalist Matt Rilkoff.
The four were impressed by the diverse perspectives portrayed in the stories and praised the courage required to tell a story as personal as that of [the writers'] lives.
