Ronald Hugh Morrieson (far right) playing guitar with friends in the 1960s in Hawera.
The annual Ronald Hugh Morrieson (January 29, 1922-December 26, 1972) literary awards are under way in South Taranaki.
When a novelist and short story writer in Hawera, Morrieson wrote four novels -
a coming of age tale The Scarecrow (1963), Came A Hot Friday (1964), Predicament (published in 1975)
and his only contemporary novel Pallet on the Floor (1976), which may have been unfinished upon his death.
He had two short stories published posthumously, in 1974; Cross My Heart and Cut My Throat and The Chimney.
According to New Zealand Film 1912-1996, Morrison's novels contain his "trademark preoccupations - sex, death, mateship, voyeurism, violence, booze and mayhem in bleak small town New Zealand - along with his irreverent black humour
The awards include five categories across Secondary School, Open and Research.
