Owen Jones, perhaps better known under his pen name, Owen Marshall, has been awarded a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Timaru for the outstanding contribution he has made as one of the country’s most successful authors, and as a world-class short story writer.
 
Rotary recognises the significant achievement of members of the community by making a donation of $US1,000 to the Rotary Foundation for charitable purposes in the name of the recipient, who is consequently recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow.
 
In 1992, Owen Jones was awarded the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago, so he decided to leave full time teaching position as Deputy Principal at Craighead School and devote his time to writing.
 
As well as receiving Fellowships at both Canterbury and Otago universities he has taught courses for aspiring writers at Aoraki Polytechnic (now ARA) and at Canterbury University. The latter awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in 2002, and in 2005 appointed him an adjunct professor.
 
The Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship took him to Menton in the south of France for 6 months in 1996. Owen has been to Antarctica as a visiting artist, to the Norfolk Island Writers Festival, and to China, and he has had writing residencies in Nelson, Alexandra and Wellington.
 
Many critics rank this man as “among the finest of New Zealand’s short story writers”. He has won numerous awards for his fiction and in 2000 he was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for his service to literature. In 2012 he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and in 2013 he received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction.
 
Owen Marshall has completed six novels, but his favourite genre is the short story because this suited his limited free time when teaching. His short stories are often set in rural or provincial settings, many being set in Central Otago with his wonderful observant descriptions of this beautiful landscape. He shares this love with the artist, Grahame Sydney whose wonderful art graces the covers of several of his books, and with the poet Brian Turner.
 
The Rotary Club of Timaru was delighted to recognise this outstanding contribution to the nation with a donation of $US 1,000 to the Rotary Foundation in the name of Owen Marshall Jones, and recognising him as a Paul Harris Fellow.