The BNZ Literary Awards are possibly New Zealand’s most famous awards for short story writing. Previous winners include such luminaries as CK Stead, Frank Sargeson, Maurice Shadbolt and Keri Hulme.

There is a Young Writer’s award for secondary school students (prize is $1,500, plus the kudos of winning your school a further $2,000).

Entries for the Young Writer’s award close on 31 May 2011.

Most interesting (from a teen blog perspective) is the Short Short Story competition they are running this year. Here at the teen blog we love short short stories, so we approve of this addition. The short short story competition runs from 25 April to 16 May and must be submitted through Facebook – note the closing date is different for this award, and don’t miss out! 150 words: no problem.

For more information, and to enter your story, visit the BNZ Facebook page (if you like them they’ll also send you alerts and updates about the competition).