
Kiwi young writer Caleb Haurua from Auckland has won the 2020 NZ Basil Sellers Award presented at the annual young writers conference on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The Awards are presented at 4.00pm of the conference each year – there are a number of awards but with Covid 19 restrictions many were unable to attend in 2020.
Each Kiwi young writer in the Press Service International program in conjunction with Christian Today sent in their BEST article for the five Panellists to mark out of 25 - the 25 mark was chosen as in previous years there have been too many multiple winners out of 10 marks.
The New Zealand Panellists
Brian Carrell - a retired Anglican Bishop
Christina Tyson - retired Sallies Media editor
Liz Hay - a retired professional editor
Wayne Graham - editor of the Daily Encourager
Sarah Richards - former editor NZ Bible Society
The Kiwi young writers are slotted into Weeks 1-3 in the program’s
5 week Cycle - these are
Weeks 1-3 - Editor Esther Koh

Caleb Hourua
Caleb’s winning article was titled - Haircuts and holy moments: my barber the pastor
https://www.christiantoday.com.au/news/haircuts-and-holy-moments-my-barber-the-pastor.html
Caleb Haurua completed his Masters in Applied Theology at Carey Baptist College in 2017. He is the Youth Pastoral Leader at Royal Oak Baptist Church in central Auckland. He loves to ponder, muse, and share thoughts. Hence why he likes the opportunity to write articles like this one.
He is especially passionate about the intersection between Church and Society—seeing Christians grow and flourish as participants in God’s ongoing mission to the World.


Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Dr Mark Tronson’s Press Service International in 2019 was awarded the Australasian Religious Press Association’s premier award, The Gutenberg. In September 2020 Summer Moore presented her commission portrait of Dr Mark Tronson holding the Gutenberg plaque. The above photo is the upper part from this portrait.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at: http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html