Wintec mentor is finalist in National Book Awards
Editor in residence at the School of Media Arts , Steve Braunias, is a finalist in the country’s leading book award.
Wintec editor-in-residence Steve Braunias is a finalist in the NZ Post national book awards.
The awards shortlist, announced this morning, features Mr Braunias’s book, Civilisation: 20 Places at the Edge of the World.
The book is a finalist in the non-fiction category. The winning author receives $10,000, and will compete with winners in other categories for the grand prize of best New Zealand book of the year, which earns the winning writer another $15,000.
The awards ceremony will be held in Auckland on August 28.
“I’m thrilled that my book has been honoured as a finalist in the country’s premier literary award,” Mr Braunias said .
“It’s a kind of travel book about the pleasures and dramas of small-town life in New Zealand.”
He was appointed editor-in-residence at the Wintec School of Media Arts in 2010. He has a mentoring role at Wintec, encouraging degree and diploma students of journalism.
Mr Braunias, 53, is a staff writer at Metro, and writes a weekly satirical column for the Sunday Star-Times. Previously, he was deputy editor at the Listener, and convenor of the Alcohol Sponsorship Press Awards. He has won over 30 national writing awards, including best first book of non-fiction at the national book awards in 2002, for his selected columns, Fool’s Paradise.
Earlier this year he won best travel story about a journey at the Cathay Pacific travel writing awards, and was a finalist in the Canon Media Awards.
He is eligible in another category at this year’s book awards – the People’s Choice Awards.
The public vote for their favourite book of the year, and the most popular author receives $2,500.
“It would be nice if people voted for my book, but I shan’t make a song and dance about it, or go on about it too much, or whatever. However, the forms are quite easy to fill in. “
He has introduced a prize of his own at Wintec this year – the inaugural Steve Braunias Sentence of the Year Award. He will present $500 to the student who writes the best sentence during the year.
Mr Braunias said the front-runner at the moment is Jade Laan, followed closely by Corey Rosser, Matthew Robinson, and Melissa Wishart.
“But these are early days,” he said. “It’s up for grabs. You never know when a good sentence is going to come along.”
