Contestable Fund Grants Selection Panel 2026
Contestable Fund Grants panel members are selected based on their knowledge and expertise in writing and publishing. We follow Creative New Zealand guidelines to prevent conflicts of interest.
Alex Collins
Alex is the Managing Director of Lift Education. He is a former primary school teacher and also previously worked in film and theatre.
Alex has worked in educational publishing for the last 20 years, initially as an editor and project manager.
The work at Lift includes developing literacy resources such as the School Journal for the New Zealand Ministry of Education, publishing student and teacher materials in five Pacific languages, and creating resources (online and print) for adult workplace learning.
Anne de Lautour
Anne has been an active participant in the literature and publishing sector in Aotearoa New Zealand for more than 30 years. She has held senior roles with major New Zealand publishing houses and was Association Director of the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) from 2007 to 2017.
Most recently, Anne was Executive Officer of Storylines Trust Te Whare Waituhi Tamariki. She is now based in Thames, Coromandel, where she works as a consultant to the publishing and literature sectors.
Melinda Szymanik
Artwork: Fifi Colston
Melinda Szymanik is a poet and children’s writer. She has been a trustee for the New Zealand Book Award’s Trust, and Vice President and Northern Representative for the New Zealand Society of Authors.
Melinda was a judge for the 2016 New Zealand Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards and in 2014 was the University of Otago, College of Education Creative New Zealand Children’s Writer in Residence.
Melinda was awarded the 2023 Michael King Writer’s Centre Shanghai Residency and took part in the Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival in New Delhi in 2024. Her children’s books, and children’s and adult’s poetry have been published here and overseas
