Wellington poet Emily Dobson won the 2004 prestigious Adam Prize for Creative Writing for her collection of poems about beekeepers and rural life, A Box of Bees.

Emily grew up in rural Hawke's Bay where her father and his wife work as commercial apiarists and drive the local school bus. Her great-grandfather and grandfather also established the firm of Arataki Honey.

The $1,000 prize and award is made annually to the best folio presented by a student in Victoria University's Master of Arts in Creative Writing - part of the International Institute of Modern Letters.Wellington poet Emily Dobson won the 2004 prestigious Adam Prize for Creative Writing for her collection of poems about beekeepers and rural life, A Box of Bees.

Emily grew up in rural Hawke's Bay where her father and his wife work as commercial apiarists and drive the local school bus. Her great-grandfather and grandfather also established the firm of Arataki Honey.

The $1,000 prize and award is made annually to the best folio presented by a student in Victoria University's Master of Arts in Creative Writing - part of the International Institute of Modern Letters.Senior Lecturer Damien Wilkins says Ms Dobson had written a stunning collection of poems.

"On one level there are the deeply appealing facts about bees, and on another level Emily offers a wonderfully suggestive account of family and personal life. Her work is sunny, lyrical and beautifully controlled."

She drew heavily on her knowledge and family history in writing the poems.

"Mum can get quite emotional over them, but my dad doesn't make too much of a fuss about it. A distinct personality type is attracted to beekeeping. It's hard to put your finger on it. Beekeepers are innovative and often quietly spoken. There's also gentleness as you can't be aggressive with bees."

Ms Dobson says the MA in Creative Writing played a major role in transforming her writing.

"The fellowship of the other students and staff is a huge thing, the feedback from those amazing, creative minds involved is invaluable. I can't imagine I would have got to this point without it."

The Adam Prize is the third award Ms Dobson has won, following her win in the Takahe poetry competition in 2002 and the Aoraki poetry competition earlier this year.

Ms Dobson says she's now looking forward to having the collection published and is taking a break before starting work on her next project.

"Box of Bees got all that family stuff out of my system. Now I can move on to writing about other things."

For more information, contact Damien Wilkins on 04 463 6905 or Emily Dobson on 021 187 8067 or Victoria Foundation manager Kim Vercoe on 04 463 5871