New Zealand’s leading journal of arts and literature, Landfall has announced the winner of the inaugural Charles Brasch Young Writers’ Essay Competition.

New Zealand student Andy Xie, currently studying at the University of Columbia in the United States, takes the $500 prize with his essay ‘The Great New Zealand Myth'.

The award is named in honour of Dunedin poet and literary figure Charles Brasch, who founded Landfall in 1947, the new competition is an annual award open to New Zealand writers aged 16 to 21.

Landfall editor David Eggleton says the 48 entries received were a throng of lively, opinionated, argumentative essays, brimming with ideas.