Tauranga resident Ann French recently took out one of the categories for the Pikihuia writing competition.

Writing award winner Ann French was pleased to hear of her accolade.

Winners from five categories were announced during last weekend and 70-year-old Ann won the English Written Novel Extract entry with her piece ‘Crushing butterflies'.

Ann has been a finalist in the competition six times since 1999 with original writing work and has up until now received second and third placings.

‘Crushing butterflies' is about a woman who suffered abuse from her husband and had been given a book about her great grandmother who was also abused.

'It's [about] how the lives parallel,” says Ann, who says she did not really know where she got the name for the book and it came out of nowhere.

'I guess it is because the butterfly is a beautiful, soft and gentle thing – and the worst thing is to crush it.”

Ann says the Pikihuia competition is a great opportunity for writers of all ages.

'If I can do it, the young people can do it, there's no end to the road.”

Ann won $2000 from receiving her latest accolade and is to spend it on something for her garden.

There were 47 finalists spread over the five categories, who were picked out of 321 entries.

Finalists in Best English and Best Maori Short Story categories and the Novel Extract were published in the Huia short stories book.