The promise of publication and a $5000 reward for each of the six winners proved a magnet for writers in this year’s Six Pack Competition. Attracting a record 500 entries, the competition and resulting book are a highlight of NZ Book Month celebrated throughout New Zealand every September.

The 2008 winning entries – five selected by celebrity judges, one by the voting public – are announced on Sunday 31 August at the launch of NZ Book Month at Te Papa Tongarewa on Wellington’s waterfront. At the same time, copies of The Six Pack Three containing the six winning entries will hit the book stores.

Now in its third year, the Six Pack Competition is open to all New Zealanders and provides a chance for unknown writers to foot it with the literary heavyweights. In the first year, for instance, 15-year-old student Phoebe Wright was one of the winners – alongside well-known writers Briar Grace-Smith and Brian Turner. And last year, emerging writer Jennifer Lane saw her story in print with one by Charlotte Grimshaw, winner of the fiction prize at this year’s Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

“The great thing about the Six Pack Competition is that you can enter a piece of writing that’s considerably longer than other competitions allow,” Charlotte says. “The prize money is also generous, and the publicity for Book Month and the published book of winning stories is excellent.”

Phoebe Wright described her win as a “life-changing experience” while Central Otago poet Brian Turner said the $5000 prize meant he could buy some new tyres for his car. More importantly, it guaranteed him “a far bigger and wider readership than usual” for his work.

That’s because 30,000 copies of The Six Pack are published every year – and every year, it ha shot to the top of the bestsellers list and stayed there for several months.

True, the books are heavily subsidised at $6 a copy – and copies are donated to public libraries, schools, literacy organisations and charities. But if that means 30,000 New Zealanders are reading work by New Zealand writers, then the competition will have achieved its key goal: to provide a cheap, accessible way for New Zealanders to be turned on to fresh new writing from this country.

For Michele Powles, Project Director of NZ Book Month 2008, the best thing about the Six Pack Competition is that it’s open to all New Zealanders – whether their work is fiction, non-fiction or poetry. It’s also judged “blind”: in other words, the names of the entrants are unknown to the judges.

“It means we get a real taste of the culture and thinking of heartland New Zealand,” Michele says. “The judging process is well-structured and it’s a great chance for completely unknown writers to appear on the scene and be published. But it’s also a chance for established writers to increase their profile and reach a huge New Zealand readership.”

With three Six Pack collections published over the last three years, is it time to look at a new approach? Perhaps try a new format?

“NZ Book Month is evaluated every year and after this event, I want to take a hard look at lots of things – what’s worked, what hasn’t – and then make some decisions,” Michele says.

The Six Pack Competition, she stresses, is just one of hundreds of activities happening throughout September – all aimed at increasing sales of New Zealand books.

Asked if NZ Book Month is achieving this aim, Michele says an emphatic “yes” and points to feedback from numerous booksellers throughout the country. Dymocks, for instance, reports that in 2007, sales of New Zealand books during September made up 60% of total sales. Most months, the percentage of New Zealand books sold tends to be around 20%.

Other feedback on last year’s event has resulted in an increased focus on young writers and readers. A new website with blogs, puzzles, book lists and a Lunch Pack Competition of reviews and interviews has been launched. Organisers have also made sure there’s plenty for young people to sample at the launch of NZ Book Month and throughout September.

Iona McNaughton is a children’s writer and big fan of New Zealand writing.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Culture online, NZLive article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.