Re-Draft Writing Competition

09/09/2024

Thank you to everyone that entered the Re-Draft Writing Competition this year! We had over 600 entries from more than 350 participants, making this year's competition the biggest one yet!

Please note that this year the schedule is a little different to usual, with consultations on short-listed entries starting in mid-October. Final results will then be announced in mid-November.

22/08/2024

This is your last opportunity to enter this year's Re-Draft writing competition! Entries close at 11:59pm tonight.

Get your entries together and visit https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter to take part! Don't forget to check our entry guidelines before entering: https://clerestorypress.co.nz/entry-guidelines

15/08/2024

There's just one week left to enter this year's Re-Draft writing competition! Entries close at 11:59pm on Friday 23 August 2024. See all the details and fill out the entry form at https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

13/08/2024

We've added a word limit to the Re-Draft entry guidelines:

Entries must be a suitable length for publication in a collection of many other works. The maximum is around 4000 words, but the story must be well sustained and well-shaped. Be economical with words. Instead of character backstory or setting descriptions, let the reader judge characters by what they say and do, and by what happens next.

4000 words is not a target!

For more entry guidelines, visit https://clerestorypress.co.nz/entry-guidelines

12/08/2024

The deadline for Re-Draft entries is just over a week away! Entries close at 11:59pm on Friday 23 August 2024. See all the details and fill out the entry form at https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

19/06/2024

We don’t set an exact word limit, but entries must be suitable for publication in an anthology. That means that if it wins publication, your entry has to fit in a book along with entries from about 80 other people! So, no novellas, novels or epics thanks!

Browse through the Re-Draft books to see the length of already published works – 6 or 7 book-sized pages seems to be the maximum. Those works are published because the story is well sustained and well shaped. They are economical with words because they don’t contain much character backstory or setting descriptions. Instead, they let the reader judge characters by what they say and do, and by what happens next.

If you are such a keen writer that you have written a novel, we hope that you can also create something to suit Re-Draft!

21/02/2024

Looking to enter the Re-Draft Writing Competition in 2024? The entry form is now live!

To enter, visit clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

Keep an eye out for our fund-raising campaigns, coming soon.

29/01/2024

Out now! Re-Draft 23: The Report.

The meaning of our title is obscure. But the stunning cover will give you a few hints, and when you read the story all will be revealed!

Congratulations to all our winning entrants!

____________________

"Thanks for sending me this 23rd copy of Re-Draft. It is an amazing example of creative consistency as good as ever before. There are some pieces that get through to the reader immediately like, ‘These two pages of my book belong to my mother ‘ – which sums up my own guilt – and ‘eyes like mine’. Then there are those like ‘Black Bird Singing’ which seem beyond the experience of teenagers, but then you remember the vastness of the backgrounds of the people who are writing. Really, ‘The Report’ sums up so well the complexity of the situations they are dealing with.

The cover artwork is a superb, an intriguing choice. Continued, wonderful standard. It implies great health and withitness in you lot, and long may it continue."

– Alan Bunn
Author & former teacher
23/01/2024

"I've always believed that the best resource for young (or any) writers is actually to have something to say. This then motivates the quest for the right words and form to say it with. This is borne out by the many excellent contributions to the latest issue.

Of course, all the contemporary tropes are there – social media, vapes, other drugs, race, national and international conflicts, and the imperilled planet – but underlying these so often are sincere expressions of friendship, love and compassion, as well as humour; impulses which might be summarised as hope.

In prose, the off-centre world views of Elliot Faulkner, Sayumdee Weerasinghe, Amy Cordwell and Kyan Batuwantudawe are matched by the gritty realism of Theresa Johnston and Hilarie Reid. Angus Stanbrook-Mason is at his best with the sophisticated fun of 'Why I am Not a Poet'. Creative non-fiction is well represented by Charlotte Funnell's sensitive and measured essay, 'What are you?'

Among the poets, I'm taken by more grit from Hannah Wilson and Yiyang Cao. Alex Baguley creates uniquely bizarre and sympathetic atmospheres in her two pieces. Ruby Appleby's 'Letter to Milena' is, again, sophisticated in its reading and response. Rose Leighton's 'Notes' and Anushka Dissanayake's 'Not Black. Not White' are outstanding poems, very much of their generation. In other words, infinite variety."

– Tony Beyer
Poet & former teacher
23/12/2023

02/10/2023

This year we've had over 500 entries from more than 300 participants. Thank you to everyone for helping make this year's competition the biggest yet!

Our judges met a week ago to confirm our short-list and editing has begun. We will consult with entrants as necessary during this process.

Cover design for the book has also begun.

We expect to email our winners by late October.

24/08/2023

Today is your last opportunity to enter Re-Draft! Entries close at 11:59pm tonight.

Get your entries together and visit https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter to take part!

17/08/2023

There's just one week left to enter this year's Re-Draft writing competition! Entries close at 11:59pm on 25 August 2023. See all the details and fill out the entry form at https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

10/08/2023

The countdown is on! There's just two weeks left to get your Re-Draft entries in. Have you entered yet? Check out our entry guidelines and enter at https://clerestorypress.co.nz/re-draft

09/08/2023

Our Re-Draft guidelines ask all entrants to indicate a new paragraph simply with an indented line, not with a line space. It's best not to indent the first line of a story, or the first line of a new section or chapter.

Not sure how to indent? For a basic explanation check out this handy resource.

Learn every approach for indenting paragraphs with this step-by-step guide. Improve how you style paragraphs and discover other valuable writing techniques.

24/07/2023

More exciting news! We have received a grant from Copyright Licensing New Zealand to support the 2023 competition. They support creative rights for all New Zealanders.

17/07/2023

Encourage teenage imaginations to take flight.
Lead them on a creative journey throughout their teenage years.
Give teenage writers the best prize of all: publication.

For 22 years the Re-Draft annual writing competition has been providing these opportunities. For our winning writers, (there can be almost one hundred each year), it’s not just the prize of publication, but also the opportunity to consult with our judges who are well-known writers themselves, to edit their work and sharpen their skills.

But these days funding from arts organisations is short, and we are asking the rest of Aotearoa New Zealand to help fund the competition and keep it going.

Aotearoa’s teenage writers need to be published. The pride of creating something beautiful will stay with them long after their teenage years. It means that they will never lose the urge to be imaginative, creative and critical thinkers. Let’s keep them on this wonderfully creative journey.

https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/re-draft-competition

07/07/2023

In the past, Re-Draft has been mostly funded by NZ funding agencies. But with less funding available from them, we now ask the rest of Aotearoa New Zealand to help fund our competition and support the next generation of Kiwi writers.

Help fund the Re-Draft annual writing competition for teenagers. We're supporting the next generation of Kiwi authors.

06/07/2023

Exciting news! We have just received a grant from the Mātātuhi Foundation to support the 2023 competition. They recognise and celebrate the talents of Aotearoa’s teenage writers.

02/07/2023

The Re-Draft Writing competition always needs humour and satire. If you want to enter your cartoon, see the guidelines here:
clerestorypress.co.nz/notes-for-illustrators

11/06/2023

Latest News! The agreement between entrants and Clerestory Press has just been updated on the entry form. Info about permissions and copyright is now clearer. Have a look at

Each entry is a separate .docx file attached to the email. (Online links, shared files, Google Docs etc will not be accepted.)

04/06/2023

Have you remembered the new Re-Draft 2023 deadline? It's 25 August. The countdown has begun!

See our entry guidelines here: clerestorypress.co.nz/re-draft

28/01/2023

If you create a catchy title for your work, it could be chosen as the title of the whole collection.

Hints for a winning title:
• Create a visual image eg. 'Death in a Raincoat' (2020)
• Use incongruous or surprising word combinations eg. 'The Afterlife of an Ice Cream Wrapper' (2022)
• Use suggestive or intriguing words eg. 'Service Stations and Other Liminal Spaces' (2018)
• A phrase is often more intriguing than a one-word title eg. 'One of the Wild Kids' (2021)
• Subtitles might work eg. 'Hypnopompia – the thoughts of dawning minds' (2019)

28/01/2023

Want the chance to get your writing published? Enter the annual Re-Draft Writing Competition for Teenagers.

• Free to enter
• Any genre – poetry/prose/flash/cartoons/comic strips/stories
• 80 to 90 winners
• The prize is publication in a professionally designed and printed book AND you receive a free copy to keep
• 2023 deadline: 25 August

For ideas and inspiration browse the Re-Draft collection of books in libraries and schools.
For more info visit

Alongside other talented teenage writers