Pastoral Care by John Prins (Otago University Press, 2025) wins the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction Best First Book

By English and Linguistics, University of Otago | Posted: Wednesday May 20, 2026

Congratulations John and Otago University Press!

One of our current PhD candidates in the English and Linguistics programme, John Prins, has had some major success. At last week's Ockham Books Awards, John’s book of short stories, Pastoral Care (Otago University Press, 2025), was awarded the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction Best First Book. John’s book is the second title in OUP’s newly established Landfall Tauraka Short Story series.

The Ockham judges wrote, ‘Funny, assured, thoughtful, of the moment and of this place, Pastoral Care is a grand debut.’

The collection follows characters navigating work, family, identity and contemporary life in Aotearoa – from a youth group leader seeking solace from an AI chatbot to brothers divided over the future of the family bach.

More about the book and buy here: Pastoral Care - John Prins