2026 Writing Competition

In Western societies like New Zealand, there has been a long-held belief that religion is a thing of the past. The latest NZ Census seemed to confirm this, where for the first time, religious ‘nones’ outnumbered those who identified with a faith tradition. But is it true that spirituality and religious experience are on the decline? Our sense, especially among young people, is that openness to and interest in religious experience is on the rise. And we’d like to hear about it!

The Chaplaincy VUW Writing Competition is your chance to write about your perspective on spirituality and religious encounter. Whatever your background – Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, secular, or something else – write a piece describing or reflecting on your religious or spiritual experience. It may be in the form of a story, reflection, memoir, or poem – the genre is up to you. Entries will be reviewed by a panel of readers, with our chief judge Prof Paul Morris making the final selection. We’ll hold a prizegiving event early November.

This year we have two entry categories:

  • Current VUW students (enrolled any time in 2026). First prize: $500

  • VUW staff and alumni. Prize TBC

Conditions of entry

  • Writing submitted must be your own

  • Maximum 2500 words

  • Submissions close 11.59pm, Sunday 20 September

  • Pieces submitted may be published by Chaplaincy VUW on this website, or in print.

This competition is being organised by chaplains Matthew Packer, Ginni Shaw and Matthew Bartlett. Feel free to get in touch with us.

2025 Utopian Writing Competition

Dystopian stories are everywhere, and disaster is perennially exciting. But can we imagine a better future for society? The 2025 Chaplaincy VUW Utopian Writing Competition was an experiment to find out! The competition closed on 28 June 2025,
and the prizegiving event was held at Ramsey House 10 September 2025.

Our judge was Elizabeth Knox. She chose as overall winner Margaret Mitchell’s piece 'Utopia – I call it Otūrēhua’. Runners-up were '“Just about the corner”' by Carla Hazel Finn, and ‘Forecast for Tomorrow’ by Rohit Gunasekaran. Congratulations to those three, to the 14 people who made the long-list, and to everyone who took the time to write and submit an entry.

You can read all the finalists in the below booklet (or download it here).