CENTENNIAL PLAY COMPETITION

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28103, 19 October 1956, Page 3

CENTENNIAL PLAY COMPETITION

TAUPIRI WOMAN’S SUCCESS “The Press” Special Service WELLINGTON, October 17. Mrs Dorothy Black, of Taupiri, has been awarded the £2OO prize in the Southland provincial centennial open competition for three-act plays. A member of the N.Z. Women Writers’ Society for many years, Mrs BUck is the wife of a solicitor. They have one daughter, Phillippa, who is of secondary-school age. Another daughter. Rosemary, died two years ago. Last month Mrs Black gave a sum of money to the society to be used as an award for a play-writing competition to be known as "The Rosemary Black Memorial Award.” Up till this year the society has not held a competition for play-writing. Mrs Black has also had the care of three children apart from her own daughter, this last year, and has had an extremely busy life. It has been difficult for her to find time for writing. which makes her winning of this three-act play competition a major achievement. She excelled in the writing of plays over the last few years, having won various competitions, including one in Australia. In Women Writers’ Society competitions Mrs Black has distinguished herself in the field of short stories with a Maori motif. Recently she had a short story accepted for translation and publication in Norway. Commonwealth Prize

In 1954 Mrs Black won the Commonwealth Prize of the London Society of Women Writers and Journalists—, this prize having been sponsored by Miss Dorothy Tanner, of Wellington, during her visit to Britain. Her story which won this prize was one with a Maori theme. Mrs Black, has recently had two women-only plays accepted by a lending library in London. Mrs Stella Jones, of Mangere, Auckland. who won the second place in the Southland Play Competition, is also a member of the N.Z. Women Writers’ Society. This year she sent a threeact play to London agents who asked for permission to submit it to one or two managements in London.

In 1955 Mrs Jones was placed second in the British Drama League competition in New Zealand for a fulllength play. Her short stories have been published in Australia and New Zealand and she has been placed in N.Z. Women Writers’ short-story writing competitions.