Edmeades noted that both 'Unsteady ground' and 'Response to a restructure' when considered side-by-side, revealed ‘threads of connective tissue,’ which made it impossible for her to pick between the two pieces for a single winner.

‘In their different ways, both essays suggest that manipulating ideologies for the purposes of expansion and control—either colonial or capitalist—will always have an effect. The more we can attune to the voices of our past—both collective and individual—the more fight we might have in us to endure the weight of the present and to effect positive change in the future.’

Franchesca Walker’s essay explores her whānau’s history, uncovering new stories about her great-grandfather following her grandfather’s passing.

‘The essay is about secrets and it is about stories. But I don’t for a minute think that these experiences are unique to my family,’ Walker says. ‘In fact, a lot of the essay’s themes, including violence, alcoholism and intergenerational trauma, are unfortunately shared by many whānau. I actually think ‘Unsteady ground’ is an essay about the enduring impact of colonisation on Māori, although viewed through the lens of a single family.’

Walker describes writing the essay as an act of love for her tīpuna, whose resilience she admires. ‘Despite having the odds stacked against them, they kept their heads above water, kept food on the table, and kept going even when things must’ve seemed pretty bleak. Our tīpuna were heroes, but occasionally they were also villains. They were victims and perpetrators and lovers and fighters and every embodiment of humanity in between. Recognising this reality does not weaken us—on the contrary, I believe it empowers.’

In her judge’s report, Lynley Edmeades praised Walker’s essay for showing ‘what happens when a culture is silenced, when emotional and psychic lives are repressed.’ Edmeades also commended Walker for her ability to weave together fragmented memories, apocryphal stories and journalistic interpretations to create a valuable mosaic of a man who was subject to the many overbearing powers of his time. ‘With the lightest of touches, she prompts the reader to think about how the fragments of our ancestors live on within us and how the fractures and fissures might play out in our waking life.’

Hannah August’s essay critiques the recent cuts to humanities programmes in universities across Aotearoa, challenging the prevailing neoliberal societal framework that prioritises financial returns. ‘It’s still worth pointing out that there are alternative types of value that cannot be easily measured – the value of learning without a clear end goal, the value of emotional connections to works of art or literature, the value of intellectual communities that consist of diverse individuals with diverse spheres of knowledge and diverse levels of expertise. My essay seeks to explore these other types of value, and to remind readers that they exist.’

August’s essay is also a tribute to those affected by university restructures, particularly friends and colleagues in the humanities across Aotearoa, Australia and the United Kingdom. ‘Some of them have lost their jobs; some of them are still employed but with vastly increased workloads as they try to fill the gaps left by departed colleagues. I wanted to capture and pay tribute to that ubiquitous experience, and to articulate what is lost in the aftermath of a university restructure that involves staff redundancies, as well as some of what has been lost more generally in our understanding of what a university is and should be following the Covid-19 pandemic.’

Edmeades commended August’s essay for its insightful exploration of ‘the act of silencing by institutional power in the interest of profiteering models.’ She added, ‘It also makes a superb argument for the place of the public intellectual, which we need now more than ever before. Her writing is gentle and affective, authentic and unashamedly subjective.’

‘Unsteady ground’ by Franchesca Walker and ‘Response to a restructure’ by Hannah August will be featured in Landfall 248: Spring 2024.