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Open Division winner Mikee Donato<\/p>\n
For Mikee Donato, writing is that secret, second life \u201cwhere all the real stuff happens\u201d.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a life that has now earned her New Zealand\u2019s richest short story prize, with her story \u2018Wilding Pines\u2019 taking out the 2026 Sargeson Prize, sponsored by the University of Waikato.<\/p>\n
Following two characters on a journey from the top of the North Island towards Wellington, \u2018Wilding Pines\u2019 weaves together fleeting encounters, snatches of conversation and small moments in a distinctive, voice-driven story.<\/p>\n
Ms Donato was named winner on Saturday at the annual Frank Sargeson Memorial Lecture and Sargeson Prize at the University, taking home $15,000 in prize money after the competition attracted a record number of entries.<\/p>\n
The biggest win in her writing career comes five years after she placed second in the Sargeson Prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what prizes do \u2013 they give you a sense of, \u2018Oh, I know what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019m competent enough at this and maybe I can make something that is half decent artistically\u2019,\u201d Ms Donato says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Writing has long occupied a different space in her life from her day-to-day work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I like to do things that are useful, but most importantly, something I am passionate about. My writing is like that second life where all the real stuff happens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since placing in 2021, Ms Donato has remained invested in the competition, reading the high quality stories it attracts and considering each year whether the Chief Judge is someone she could impress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a real blessing to have these sorts of competitions in New Zealand, especially in times of financial difficulty for the country, when so many things can feel like a luxury. But they shouldn\u2019t. We should support these arts; they deserve a place in society.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Donato describes \u2018Wilding Pines\u2019 as a voice-driven story, inspired in part by some of her favourite bands from her teenage years. She was particularly interested in how fragments of dialogue could create texture, character and a sense of place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
She began working on the final section of the story while on holiday on the Gold Coast with a friend but arrived back in New Zealand with half a story and no ending.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
She completed it on the floor at Auckland Airport, finally submitting \u2018Wilding Pines\u2019 at 11.50pm, just nine minutes before entries closed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Chief Judge, award-winning author and 2025 Sargeson Prize winner Becky Manawatu (opens in a new tab)<\/a>, says she knew from her first read of \u2018Wilding Pines\u2019 that she had found the winning entry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n She says the story had an original and assured voice, with its arc slowly and inevitably returning to the beginning and reinforcing the sense that its characters are trapped in a cycle of being \u201cused and forgotten, used and forgotten\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n I chose this story for everything from its style to word choices, to structure, dialogue and plot, as well as its profound understanding of being caught in a churn of wanting to be wanted and then being wanted by careless people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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