Dame Fiona Kidman

JUDGE’S COMMENTS

DAME FIONA KIDMAN

SHORT STORY - SECONDARY SCHOOL AND OPEN

It has been a great pleasure to judge this year’s literary awards and, in the process, learn more about Taranaki. I was born in Hāwera but left there as an infant. Returning to the province very many years later has been an opportunity to explore my birthplace in person and through the work of its many writers. I commend the aim of the Awards organisers in focusing on Taranaki as a setting, although some of the best stories could have taken place there, or anywhere in New Zealand.

I loved themes of the natural world which ran like a melody throughout the entries. There were stories about whitebaiting, eeling, the beaches, hawks, farm life and, overall, the signal presence of the beautiful mountain, giving a sense of the vitality and life forces of the area. I found also stories that reflected small town communities and the secrets, stoicism, and tragedies that beset them, as well as the friendships, endurance and love of place that exists in all of them. I liked sudden surprising information such as discovering a statue of Peter Snell in Ōpunakē. Hāwera featured in several stories and I was intrigued by the number of rascally attempts to deface the water tower that emerged.

Grandparents featured strongly in many stories and these heartened me, reflecting as they do the importance of older people and their positive role in society. There were a number of stories about grief, death and self harm. It takes courage to write stories like these and I thank the writers for sharing them and some of the difficult truths they expressed. More than one touched me deeply. If I found a disappointing gap in my expectations it was stories that reflected the vibrant art world of Taranaki; only one or two touched on the arts (though perhaps the story of the statue counts).

So what of the quality of the stories I judged? There were a few startlingly good ones that hurtled their way into my ‘yes’ pile as soon as I read them. A number had good qualities but for one reason or another didn’t quite make it. The two thousand word limit offers wonderful possibilities for the writer seeking to make a short to the point impact (often based on character), but equally it can be limiting. Several stories tried to cover too much territory, too great a time frame, and introduce too many characters within those limitations of space. Every now and then I found myself thinking that there was a great novel lurking in what I had just read, rather than a short story. I found, too, a good number of anecdotes that felt like personal stories and were in their way interesting, but not shapely enough to meet what I was looking for in terms of craft.

In the end, the three winners of the Senior section jostled for position. All three of them caught my attention as potential winners. I read and re-read them over the final days of judging, listening to their voices, thinking about what was memorable, until the order declared itself.