Welcome to the Writers College Newsletter  
December 2015 
The celebration issue

In this issue, we celebrate the writing achievements of our students, and showcase the best results. 

 

As we wind down for the year, we hope you'll all take some time off to refresh and recharge, and come back in January 2016 with your pens fully loaded! 

 

Happy holidays!

 

Tracey Hawthorne
(Editor)  

FOUND ON THE WEB


Taking a break is important. Do it this festive season. 

How to really switch off over the hols 
A bit of forward planning - and keeping off the internet - can help you have a genuine rest. Read how here and here.  

Go screen-free
Need some advice on how to escape technology for a while? Read it here.

Get some shut-eye
Use the holidays to shut off your brain and get some quality sleep. Here's how.

'Tis the season to... write about it
Research shows that writing about emotional events relieves stress - so keep a journal. And here are 19 other tips for beating festive-season tension.


But if you really don't want to take a break...

Write a winning travel piece 
If you're travelling these holidays, you may want to write about it. Here are some great tips from people who've been there.

Improve your writing 
Understanding why you make the writing mistakes you do is the first step to being a better writer. Read about it here. 
STUDENT NEWS


Congratulations to all of our students who were published in 2015.


Ishara Maharaj completed the Write a Novel Course with Alex Smith at SA Writers College. Her novel has been accepted for publication by Modjaji Press.

Nicky Wilton, a past Magazine Journalism student, had her article 'Better than Sliced Bread' published in the Big Issue Magazine.

Pravina Maharaj just had a story published in You Magazine called 'The Wrong Mr Right'. Pravina completed the Write a Novel Course at the Writers College.  
 
Suzanne Main completed The Basics of Creative Writing Course and won the 2014 Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award. Her book See How I Alienated My Grandma is in bookshops in New Zealand.

Greta Henley completed the Scriptwriting Course with Karen Jeynes as her tutor. Her short film called 'Promise' was shown at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town. Greta also co-wrote the second short film called 'Recovery'. 
 
William Oosthuizen's short story 'Board and Lodging', a winner in a SAWC Short Story Competition, has been snapped up by Nickelodeon as a potential screenplay.

Elzanne Amoa  - one of our top Magazine Journalism Graduates of 2014 - has been writing regularly for an online health and fitness portal.

Ronel Mostert completed the Advanced Creative Writing Course and her novel,
Dubbele Wonderwerk (A Double Miracle) was published by Kwarts Publishers. Her first short story was published in the April edition of the woman's magazine, Sarie. Her short story on Vrouekeur's website was chosen as the best short story for April 2015. In September 2015 another short story will be published in Vrouekeur.   

Martin Steyn completed the Writers College Creative Writing Course in 2011, and had his first novel, Donkerspoor (Dark Trail), published by Lapa last year. The book was an instant success and best-seller, with critics heralding Martin as an interesting addition to Afrikaans crime fiction.

His second book, Skuldig (Guilty), was recently published to even greater acclaim.
 
Moira Swart, a graduate of our Travel Writing Course, won the competition "Readers World" in the Travel Weekly supplement in the Sunday Times.

Glenn McGoldrick, who has had a story "A Little Drama" accepted for online publication by http://www.short-story.me/. Glenn was a student on the Writing Short Stories for Magazines Course.
 
Helen Glenny for her article "Redesigning the Ageing Brain", which will be published in
Living Well magazine. Helen is a graduate of the Magazine Journalism Course at NZ Writers College. She has just been offered a job as the health writer for the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation.  
 
Megan Otto for getting her article "Sit, Stay, Talk" accepted for publication in the Summer edition of Animals' Voice. Megan completed the Basics of Feature Writing Course at NZ Writers College.
 
Lucy Hodgson, who was published in North & South Magazine. She won the reader's word competition for her piece "Hymn to Homonyms". Lucy is currently a student on the Advanced Write a Novel Course.
 
Emma Richardson, who is getting her excellent story "The Forgotten Species: Why We Need Seaweed" published in Forest and Bird magazine. Emma completed the Magazine Journalism Course at NZ Writers College.
 
Lourens Durand. His article, 'Look Deep into Nature', written on the Basics of Feature Writing Course, was published by Voices for Biodiversity online.
 
Megan Frith, a graduate of the Writers College Short Story Course and our Novel Writing Course, recently placed third in the 2015 Page & Blackmore Short Story Competition in New Zealand for her short story titled "Till Death". Two of her stories were published in Horizons 2 - an anthology compiled by the Top of the South branch of NZ Society of Authors. 
 
BEST OF 2015

A hearty congratulations to our top students of the year. Below are the highest marks out of 436 graduates. Well done!


TOP 5 COURSES THIS YEAR
  1. The Basics of Creative Writing Course
  2. The Magazine Journalism Course 
  3. The Copy-editing and Proofreading Course 
  4. The Novel Writing Course
  5. The Grammar Course 
 
TOP JOURNALISM STUDENTS
 
Karen Southey - Magazine Journalism - 93%
Jacques Broodryk - Broadcast Journalism - 92%
Gina Payne - Magazine Journalism - 91%
Alice Parminter - Feature Writing - 91%
Jaco van Hemert - Magazine Journalism - 88%
Desima Beukes - Magazine Journalism - 88%

 
TOP TRAVEL WRITING STUDENTS
 
Ailish Casey - 90%
Mignon van Zyl - 90%
Barry Martin - 87%
Carina Steyl - 83%
Shayna Elley - 83%

 
TOP 'BASICS OF CREATIVE WRITING' STUDENTS
 
Susan Linford - 94%
Elizabeth Baikie - 94%
Leanne Watt - 92%
Nikkie Duffield - 92%
Sarah Nutbrown - 92%

 
TOP CREATIVE WRITING STUDENTS
 
Olivia Spooner - Advanced Novel Writing Course - 97%
Tracey Domalik- Novel Writing Course - 97%
Nicole Lotter - Novel Writing Course - 97%
Bridget Ellis-Pegler - Writing for Video Games - 96%
Anna Cleal - Novel Writing Course - 94%
Megan Frith - Literary Short Fiction Course - 92 %
Victoria Hathaway - Literary Short Fiction Course - 89%
Louis Greenberg- Scriptwriting Course - 88%

 
TOP SPECIALIST WRITING STUDENTS
 
Helen Stobba - Writing Coach Course - 93%
Moya Sherriff - Business Writing Toolkit Course - 92%
Shelley Burt - Writing for Social Media Course - 91%
Roann Slabbert - Writing for the Web Course - 90%
Kim Seifu - Writing a Blog Course - 90%
Yonela Njisane - Writing a Blog Course - 90%

 
TOP BUSINESS AND GRAMMAR COURSE STUDENTS
 
Alain Eli - Grammar Skills Course - 96%
Benjamin Kerei - Grammar Skills Course - 95%
Erna Vermaak - Grammar for Writers Course - 95%
Judy Maphai - Grammar Skills Course - 94%
Petra Ernst - Grammar Skills Course - 94%

 

LATEST COLLEGE NEWS
 
OUR WRITERS COLLEGE COURSES FOR NEXT YEAR
 
Browse our range of courses on offer next year:
 
Southern Africa: SA Writers College
United Kingdom: UK Writers College
New Zealand and Australia: NZ Writers College 
 
 
EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WRITING FROM 2015

Read excerpts from our creative writing students.
Samples of writing from our journalism students.


OUR ANNUAL WRITERS COLLEGE SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS  
 
Congratulations to Jeff Taylor who won the 2015 NZ Writers College Short Story Award. Read his story and the judges' comments.
 
 
 
MY WRITING JOURNEY COMPETITIONS
 
We ran four 'writing journey' competitions in 2015. The final competition closes on 31 December this year.
 
Read the three winning stories so far:

Haymaker by Clinton Matos - Winner September 2015
African Dream by Olakunle Oladiran - Winner May 2015
Magic by Thorne Busakwe - Winner January 2015


BURSARIES FOR 2016

Congratulations to Thabo Jijane from South Africa, who has been awarded a place on the Basics of Feature Writing Course in 2016.


CLOSING HOURS OVER THE HOLIDAY PERIOD

We are closed from 18 December until 4 January. See you in 2016 for another great writing year!

ON OUR WEBZINE


The writing life: Sarah Lotz 
The award-winning author of The Three and Day Four tells Alex Smith what it feels like to close a six-figure two-book deal and how she's learning to think before she speaks. Read it here.

Get unstuck
The first step to fixing writer's block is to understand what causes it. Here, creative writing tutor Helen Brain tells us how to conquer the fear.

Writing for the web
Popular keywords and practical headlines - these are just two keys to great online writing. Here, Hayley Leibowitz gives us more.

Thrive as a freelancer
Want your writing to stop being a hobby and start paying the bills? Here are 10 tips, courtesy of Fran Weerts.
COMPETITION TIME

Caine Prize for African Writing
Deadline: 31 January
More details here
 
Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction 
Deadline: 14 March
More details here

Colm Toibin International Short Story Award
Deadline: 1 April 
More details here

Bath Short Story Award
Deadline: 25 April 
More details here

Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
Deadline: 31 April 
More details here

Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition 
Deadline: 6 May
More details here

The Bridport Prize
Deadline: 31 May
More details here
My Writing Journey Competition 
December 2015

Write us a 1 000-word story about your journey as a writer. Make it funny, quirky or inspirational. We'll publish the best story in our newsletter and on our blog - plus the winner will get $200 (R1 000 or £100). Read the rules.

Send your story to nichola@nzwriterscollege.co.nz.

 

Open to our newsletter subscribers from around the world.

 

The next 'My Writing Journey' competition closes at noon on 31 December 2015.
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