The grant funding allocation which the panel has agreed upon is as follows:
(a) $NZ400 for the Capricious project, edited / published by Andi Buchanan
(b) $NZ1100 for the At The Edge project, published by Marie Hodgkinson (Paper Road Press) and edited by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray
The panel was impressed by the overall quality of applications. Inevitably, not all worthwhile projects could be fully funded.
The panel felt that Capricious was particularly deserving of funding in filling a niche (local speculative fiction periodical) that is currently absent from the NZ scene; offers local authors and artists an attractive remuneration ($US50 per contribution); and looks likely to establish a distinct online identity, thus furthering the visibility of its contributing NZ artists and authors. The project builds on Buchanan’s recognised talents as an editor/anthologist, and we note that, since the publisher is meeting the other costs personally, no additional external funding is required for the zine’s first year of publication.
The panel likewise felt that At The Edge very much merited backing, in view of the combined (and widely recognised) experience of the publisher and editorial team, and the international opportunity that such an apparently broadly-themed anthology offers to NZ’s speculative fiction writers. We note that, while it is possible some additional funding support for this project may be required through crowdfunding, Paper Road Press has a very good track record in attracting such funding, and already has other funds allocated to this project, to cover author payments.
The panel is excited by the opportunities which these projects should offer to NZ creators of speculative fiction, and wishes them every success.
Lastly, it should be noted that while the panel members (Immi Paterson-Harkness, Simon Petrie, Darusha Wehm) are personally known to and / or have been published by the grant applicants, panel members have taken every effort to ensure that funds have been allocated objectively and entirely in accordance with the principle of seeking to best further the visibility and viability of speculative fiction within and from NZ.