Record Number of Entries for NZ Mountain Book Competition

Entries in the annual NZ Mountain Book Competition closed on 31 March and the organisers are delighted to report that they have received their highest ever number of submissions. The book competition is part of the NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

The book competition was added to the festival in 2017 and has come to be recognised for attracting particularly high standards of entry. Awards are offered across three categories including Mountain and Adventure Narrative, Mountain and Adventure Heritage, and the overall Nankervis/Bamford NZ Mountain Book of the Year which offers a generous $2000 prize. The calibre of entries was so high this year that the organisers have added a new 'highly commended' list. 

"Only a handful of points separated the top 10 books in the pre-judging, so we wanted to acknowledge the very high calibre of entries," says Dan Clearwater, book competition coordinator.  “Those books that just missed out on being finalists this year would have certainly been shortlist contenders in previous years’ competitions. It's a wonderful example of the depth of NZ authors and publishers, and the way the industry is bouncing back strongly from Covid disruptions.”

Sarah Bennett, who has worked as an editor and publisher at Awa Press and Bridget Williams Books and joins the judging panel for this year’s book competition, says Covid has almost certainly affected the number of entries.

“In talking with booksellers and fellow publishers over the last year or so, it seems that the pandemic has boosted the market for books about New Zealand,” says Bennett. “To some extent this will be driven by New Zealanders being forced to stay home, slow down, and travel more widely and deeply around the motu. Perhaps this has made us appreciate Aotearoa more, and be more curious about our people and places, and about the incredible natural world that inspires us in so many different ways.’

“All that inspiration and connection logically flows into more people writing, with the ability to self-publish helping those writers reach interested readers.”

Chris Lumsden, manager of Paper Plus Wanaka, a long-time supporter of the festival, says he’s delighted to see the annual book competition grow but not altogether surprised.

“Whenever anything new comes across my desk I always ask, have you entered in the NZMFBF and suggest they do so,” says Lumsden.

“There’s definitely been an increase in NZ non-fiction writing and publishing,” he continues. “For us as a store the space we allocate nowadays to NZ non-fiction is like comparing apples to oranges from when I first started. There are plenty of people out there doing interesting stuff that the rest of us want to read about which inspires more of us to get out and do interesting stuff.

“I am also well aware of many instances where Covid has enabled people who were in the throes of writing a book to actually have the time to get stuck in and finish it.  I’m looking forward to this year’s entries and talks at the event, not just to put books in people’s hands but, the talks always reveal more to a story where an author is sometimes a little reluctant to put all the components into their story and they branch off into tangents that are always fascinating.”

Festival founder and director, Mark Sedon is one such person who unexpectedly found himself at home and with time to work on his own book. An experienced ski guide and mountaineer, Sedon has lived, worked and adventured across all seven continents of the world. A ‘normal’ year would see him travelling back and forth from his home base at Lake Hāwea in Central Otago, to Antarctica, India and Norway. Being unable to travel for two years meant that he had time to finish the book he started writing five years ago.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong is Sedon’s true-life account of his exploration, adventures and misadventures across the globe, from surviving avalanches, helicopter crashes and volcanic eruptions, to climbing Mt Everest, being starved and trapped in remote Papua and sailing the Southern Ocean. Sedon will speak about his book and share more of his adventures at this year’s NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival.

The book competition category winners will be announced on 7 June with the grand prize winner announced on opening night, 24 June. The festival will run from 24 until 29 June in Wānaka, 30 June until 2 July in Queenstown, and online in NZ and Australia from 24 June until 24 July 2022. The nine-day event is a celebration of adventurous sports and lifestyles presented for adventurers, film and book enthusiasts and armchair adventurers.

The festival is run by the NZ Mountain Film Festival Charitable Trust and is a registered charity (#CC49344). The trust aims to promote, through its annual mountain film and book festival, healthy and active lifestyles, encourage youth to make small safe adventures in the outdoors, to inspire people to reach their full potential, to work cooperatively with others in the youth development area, to help people with disabilities get into outdoor activities and to promote NZ arts, film, culture, environment and outdoor lifestyles.

Find out more at mountainfilm.nz