2022 marks twenty years of the NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival! We’re proud to have showcased an outstanding selection of films and written works over the past two decades and with your input, we’re aiming to make 2022 a real showstopper. We are excited to announce that the festival’s film and book competitions are now open for entries.
With over $5,000 in prize money offered across several different categories, we’re looking forward to watching and reading tales of daring adventures and inspirational journeys, to exploring foreign cultures, and to confronting environmental themes.
Book entries close on 30 March and film entries close on 20 April. All films selected as finalists will be screened at our festival from 24 June to 2 July 2022 in Wanaka and Queenstown.
Film Competition
Our filmmaking competition receives submissions from filmmakers from all over the world and is a member of the International Alliance of Mountain Film. It provides a platform for filmmakers to showcase their work, receive merit and to win cash prizes. As New Zealand’s only adventure filmmakers’ competition this is a unique and exciting chance for Kiwi creatives and adventurers to entertain a home crowd and gain a loyal local following.
The festival centres around adventurous sports and lifestyles but we welcome a broad interpretation of this theme. We accept entries as long as there is a link with adventurous sports or people, and the world’s mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans or skies provide the stage, or there is a cultural or environmental theme. Mountain climbing, rock or ice climbing, white water rafting, base jumping and paragliding are regular and popular features on the festival schedule but not everything need be adrenaline-filled, a cool walk can also make for appealing content.
Enter a film here
Film entries close on 20 April, later by special arrangement.
Book Competition
We love sharing tales of epic, and often hair-raising adventures set in some of the world’s most remote, often beautiful, sometimes hostile, environments. The Mountain Book competition adds another exciting element to our festival, giving writers the opportunity to showcase their work and win prizes, and our adventure book-loving audience to enjoy readings, book signings, guest speakers and seminars.
As with our film festival, the theme is Adventure Sports and Lifestyles. The Mountain and Adventure Narrative Award is for stories and accounts about specific adventures, and can be fiction or non-fiction. The Mountain and Adventure Heritage Awards covers guidebooks, coffee table and picture books, history books, analyses, reflections on culture, environments or ethics, and advocacy. Both categories offer a $250 prize.
The NZ Mountain Book of the Year, founded and supported by Dave Bamford and John Nankervis offers a $1000 prize, with thanks to the award’s founders. The award is for a book that brings the mountain experience into the hearts and minds of the readers, and can be fiction, poetry or non-fiction. The prize is only awarded for a book of the very highest quality and may not be awarded every year.
The Mountain Book Competition is open to writers from NZ and around the globe.
Entries now closed
