The Rehearsal takes centre stage with Adam Prize

victoria-university-of-wellington

Thu Dec 13 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

The Rehearsal takes centre stage with Adam Prize

Thursday, 13 December 2007, 9:57 am
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington

MEDIA RELEASE

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 the 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.

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