Katherine Mansfield Awards

Bank of New Zealand was the founding sponsor of the Katherine Mansfield Award from 1959 - 2015, formerly known as the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Literacy Award and more recently as the BNZ Literary awards.

The purpose of the award was to commemorate Katherine Mansfield’s contribution to New Zealand literature and to help recognise and encourage local writers.

The awards were for unpublished short stories and essays. Entries had to be anonymous until judging was complete. Notable past winners include Maurice Shadbolt (1963, 1967 and 1995), C.K. Stead (1961), Frank Sargeson (1965), Keri Hulme (1975), Vincent O'Sullivan (1979) and Daphne de Jong (1981). 

BNZ sponsored this award for 55 years making it one of the NZ's longest running sponsorship's. When the partnership came up for renewal in 2015 the decision was made to realign BNZ’s strategic sponsorship's to better fit with the bank’s blueprint and mission to help New Zealanders be good with money.

BNZ has a close connection to Katherine Mansfield - her father; Sir Harold Beauchamp was a member of the BNZ board from 1898-1935 and Chairman from 1907-1912, 1913 – 1922 and 1934.