The 17-year-old Columba College pupil's short story won this year's Young Writer Award at the BNZ Literary Awards and was praised by judge and author Penelope Todd at a ceremony in Wellington yesterday.
Although the story covered 15 minutes of present time, it was reflective of centuries of time past, Ms Todd said. The story, set in 20th-century society, follows the lives of Chiao's relatives and how they were affected by sexism.
Despite the success, Chiao's English teacher has failed to convince her to join the school's writing club because she has no plans to make a career out of writing.
"Writing is a hobby of mine which I enjoy along with many other commitments."
Chiao, a fluent speaker of three languages, plans to study medicine at the University of Otago next year. In addition to the $1500 prize money, she also collected $2000 for her school.
Wellington writer Gemma Bowker-Wright won the Katherine Mansfield Award ($10,000) for her story Katherine, and Toni Spencer won the novice category for her story titled Rainbow Fishing.
