Elsie Locke Writing Prize 2024

Toitoi and the Elsie Locke Trust are proud to announce the 2024 winner of the Elsie Locke Writing Prize is Waihīrere Ngāhuia Hakaraia (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tūwharetoa), age 10, home-schooled from Palmerston North.

Waihīrere won with her poem, The Huia. You can read Waihīrere’s winning poem at Writing Prize winners.

The prize includes $250 and her poem published in Toitoi. Sophie also receives a copy of Toitoi’s hardback publication, Jillion.

The poem has been printed in the Toitoi issue 34. Beautiful illustrations by 15-year-old Danielle Wu from Chilton St James School, engage sensitively with the text and bring it to life.

Young writers aged 5 to 13 were invited to develop a piece of writing inspired by New Zealand history or Elsie Locke’s work for peace, the environment, women’s issues and her community. Submissions could be writing of any sort on any topic – past, present or future.

JUDGES’ NOTES

“I have chosen The Huia. It is a very clever poem and I think it touches on lots
of kaupapa that were important to Elsie, such as conservation. I love the way she weaves the huia through past and present existences. Great last line too, ‘it had no fear of humans’.”

— Jessie Moss, granddaughter of Elsie Locke, and judge of the Elsie Locke Writing Prize 2024

Toitoi

Toitoi publishes writing and art by Kiwi creatives ages 5-18. The journal publishes material with an original and authentic voice that other young people can be inspired by, and that reflects the cultures and experiences of life in Aotearoa New Zealand.

For more information, see the Toitoi website, or contact the Toitoi team at editor@toitoi.nz