Wednesday, December 12, 2007


12 December 2007
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The Rehearsal takes centre stage as Adam Prize winner

This year’s prestigious Adam Prize in Creative Writing has been awarded to Victoria University student Eleanor Catton for her novel The Rehearsal.

Supported by Wellingtonians Denis and Verna Adam through the Victoria University Foundation, the $3000 prize is awarded annually to an outstanding student in the Masters in Creative Writing programme in the International Institute of Modern Letters.

Examiners praised The Rehearsal – the story of a sex scandal at a girls' school – as "viciously funny, wonderfully fresh and bold – a dazzling new voice".

Ms Catton completed a BA Honours at Victoria last year, and this year won the prestigious Sunday Star Times Story Award. She gained theatrical experience in Christchurch and has written several film scripts as an undergraduate.

Damien Wilkins, co-convenor of Victoria’s MA Programme, says the Adam Prize underlines the breadth of Ms Catton's talent and that her novel is a remarkable achievement.

Of the standard of work submitted for final assessment by the twenty MA students, Mr Wilkins says "there were several books worthy of winning the Adam Prize, and a number of fiction writers and poets are sure to figure in our literature in the future."

Previous Adam Prize recipients include acclaimed authors Catherine Chidgey, Paula Morris and William Brandt.

For more information about the Masters programme please contact Damien Wilkins:
04 463 6905

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