Comments from Judge Witi Ihimaera
Whakarongo ake au ki te tangi a te manu nei,
A te ma tūī, tūī, tūītūīa!
I’ve had a tremendous amount of pleasure reading the stories submitted to the Sunday Star-Times 2022 Short Story Competition (Māori category).
The ancient tauparapara above expresses it nicely: the stories have been like the cry, the song, the call of the birds of the forest, tūī, tūī, tūī,tūīa! They sound even sweeter by being representative of the current generation.
Maoridom must always replenish the stock of its narratives for the future and the stories must be told anew in new ways and with new voices. My generation, the generation of Patricia Grace, Renee and Api Taylor among others don’t want to read the same old same old. Neither does yours!
The finalists speak to your generation with your generation’s vigour and passion. They set their own standards, they have credible Māori characters and voices, and conjure up consistent Māori worlds with narratives that are inflected with Māori id.
They have strong oral and aural characteristics too and are probably better read with and to an audience. Even better they show their writers to have not just ambition or talent but also sound technique and good instincts. They know how to tell a story and in a Māori way.
You wouldn’t want Māori writers to write according to the assumptions and expectations of Pākehā literature would you? Of course not.
So to the final decision. With the proviso that I have always thought of Māori writers as a co-operative rather than competitive fraternity: Our Tūī is the winner.
Congratulations and welcome among the whānau kaituhituhi.