The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc) congratulates Susanna Elliffe on winning the 2025 NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize with her manuscript Relic Party.
The prize was created by the NZSA and the Solomon family to fulfil the wishes of Laura Solomon, a novelist, poet and playwright who was a longstanding member of the NZSA and a beloved member of the Solomon family. It awards new writing of 'unique and original vision' with a cash prize of $2,000 and a publishing contract with The Cuba Press. Publication will be in 2026.
The winning manuscript, Relic Party, is a short story collection that studies loss, both intimate and global, human and nonhuman, ranging through ugly ghosts, false relics, and desperate pilgrimages, to a dysfunctional 80's farmhouse and the speculative worlds of climate affected futures.
We also congratulate Belinda O'Keefe who is the runner-up, winning a cash prize of $1,000 with her manuscript Trespassers Will Be Baked, Scrambled, Fried and Eaten.
Susanna Elliffe's manuscript was selected by a final judging panel of Mary McCallum (The Cuba Press), Nicky Solomon (Solomon Family) and panel convenor and award-winning writer Cassie Hart.
Cassie Hart, convenor of the judges, says: “The quality of entries this year was amazing – choosing the finalists was not an easy task, and then selecting just one winner? A huge challenge. I so appreciate the writers of New Zealand for not making this easy!
“The final four were all so different from each other, spanning from a very lyrical collection of short stories to a humorous contemporary novel, a middle grade adventure, through to a memoiresque non-fiction book exploring the experience of immigrants! There is almost no way to compare the four, as they are each such a success in their own right. The winner, Relic Party, stood out as being the most unique and original of the three though, and I know that readers will fall in love with Susannah Elliffe's prose and storytelling just like we did.”
Nicky Solomon says: “It is so wonderful to see interest in the prize continue to grow, as we mark its fifth year. We are extremely grateful to the NZSA and The Cuba Press for taking Laura’s idea and turning it into a true legacy. She would be absolutely delighted by the calibre of the work and I know that she would echo me in congratulating all of the finalists, and in fact all of the entrants. The judges are continually challenged, in a good way, by such high quality writing in such a diverse range of genres, and our family ext