Re-Draft Writing Competition

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Re-Draft Writing Competition

Re-Draft is a nationally acclaimed collection of teenagers' writing, published yearly.

19/02/2025

Looking to enter the Re-Draft Writing Competition this year? The entry form is now live!

To enter, visit clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

This year's deadline is 29 August 2025.

17/02/2025

Just out! Re-Draft 24: We Scream in Static.

As you can see from the dramatic cover, this is a stunning book.
Congratulations to all our writers and everybody else involved!

“Thank you for sending me this new Re-Draft 24 edition. I see with satisfaction that your literary nursery is successfully continuing its growth, thus allowing the blossoming of new budding writing talents. So much the better if the younger generation continues the work of their elders and fuels the sacred fire of the art of writing other than that limited to 160 characters.”
— Pascal Dupin, Vendôme, France.

31/12/2024

We know our prize winners are patiently waiting to receive their books! The books came back from the printer less than a week before Christmas and we raced to get them out the door as soon as we could. They will be arriving soon.

Happy reading in 2025!

09/09/2024

Thank you to everyone that entered the Re-Draft Writing Competition this year! We had over 600 entries from more than 350 participants, making this year's competition the biggest one yet!

Please note that this year the schedule is a little different to usual, with consultations on short-listed entries starting in mid-October. Final results will then be announced in mid-November.

22/08/2024

This is your last opportunity to enter this year's Re-Draft writing competition! Entries close at 11:59pm tonight.

Get your entries together and visit https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter to take part! Don't forget to check our entry guidelines before entering: https://clerestorypress.co.nz/entry-guidelines

15/08/2024

There's just one week left to enter this year's Re-Draft writing competition! Entries close at 11:59pm on Friday 23 August 2024. See all the details and fill out the entry form at https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

13/08/2024

We've added a word limit to the Re-Draft entry guidelines:

Entries must be a suitable length for publication in a collection of many other works. The maximum is around 4000 words, but the story must be well sustained and well-shaped. Be economical with words. Instead of character backstory or setting descriptions, let the reader judge characters by what they say and do, and by what happens next.

4000 words is not a target!

For more entry guidelines, visit https://clerestorypress.co.nz/entry-guidelines

12/08/2024

The deadline for Re-Draft entries is just over a week away! Entries close at 11:59pm on Friday 23 August 2024. See all the details and fill out the entry form at https://clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

19/06/2024

We don’t set an exact word limit, but entries must be suitable for publication in an anthology. That means that if it wins publication, your entry has to fit in a book along with entries from about 80 other people! So, no novellas, novels or epics thanks!

Browse through the Re-Draft books to see the length of already published works – 6 or 7 book-sized pages seems to be the maximum. Those works are published because the story is well sustained and well shaped. They are economical with words because they don’t contain much character backstory or setting descriptions. Instead, they let the reader judge characters by what they say and do, and by what happens next.

If you are such a keen writer that you have written a novel, we hope that you can also create something to suit Re-Draft!

21/02/2024

Looking to enter the Re-Draft Writing Competition in 2024? The entry form is now live!

To enter, visit clerestorypress.co.nz/enter

Keep an eye out for our fund-raising campaigns, coming soon.

29/01/2024

Out now! Re-Draft 23: The Report.

The meaning of our title is obscure. But the stunning cover will give you a few hints, and when you read the story all will be revealed!

Congratulations to all our winning entrants!

____________________

"Thanks for sending me this 23rd copy of Re-Draft. It is an amazing example of creative consistency as good as ever before. There are some pieces that get through to the reader immediately like, ‘These two pages of my book belong to my mother ‘ – which sums up my own guilt – and ‘eyes like mine’. Then there are those like ‘Black Bird Singing’ which seem beyond the experience of teenagers, but then you remember the vastness of the backgrounds of the people who are writing. Really, ‘The Report’ sums up so well the complexity of the situations they are dealing with.

The cover artwork is a superb, an intriguing choice. Continued, wonderful standard. It implies great health and withitness in you lot, and long may it continue."

– Alan Bunn
Author & former teacher
23/01/2024

"I've always believed that the best resource for young (or any) writers is actually to have something to say. This then motivates the quest for the right words and form to say it with. This is borne out by the many excellent contributions to the latest issue.

Of course, all the contemporary tropes are there – social media, vapes, other drugs, race, national and international conflicts, and the imperilled planet – but underlying these so often are sincere expressions of friendship, love and compassion, as well as humour; impulses which might be summarised as hope.

In prose, the off-centre world views of Elliot Faulkner, Sayumdee Weerasinghe, Amy Cordwell and Kyan Batuwantudawe are matched by the gritty realism of Theresa Johnston and Hilarie Reid. Angus Stanbrook-Mason is at his best with the sophisticated fun of 'Why I am Not a Poet'. Creative non-fiction is well represented by Charlotte Funnell's sensitive and measured essay, 'What are you?'

Among the poets, I'm taken by more grit from Hannah Wilson and Yiyang Cao. Alex Baguley creates uniquely bizarre and sympathetic atmospheres in her two pieces. Ruby Appleby's 'Letter to Milena' is, again, sophisticated in its reading and response. Rose Leighton's 'Notes' and Anushka Dissanayake's 'Not Black. Not White' are outstanding poems, very much of their generation. In other words, infinite variety."

– Tony Beyer
Poet & former teacher
23/12/2023

02/10/2023

This year we've had over 500 entries from more than 300 participants. Thank you to everyone for helping make this year's competition the biggest yet!

Our judges met a week ago to confirm our short-list and editing has begun. We will consult with entrants as necessary during this process.

Cover design for the book has also begun.

We expect to email our winners by late October.

Address

Christchurch

Website

https://clerestorypress.co.nz/re-draft

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