Jann Medlicott

Jann Medlicott was born in Taranaki and studied Medicine at the University of Otago, specialising in radiology. After three years overseas, and obtaining higher qualifications in London, she returned to New Zealand and settled in Tauranga in 1980 as a hospital-based radiologist. She subsequently became involved in the establishment of the private radiology practices in the Bay area, latterly Medex Radiology, where she was a partner until her retirement in 2011. 

Jann has been closely involved with the Acorn Foundation since 2008, sponsoring an adult learner scholarship at the University of Waikato from 2012 to 2015 and, since 2012, she has sponsored an annual Creative Arts Award through Creative Bay of Plenty. In 2020, the value of this prize was increased to $5,000 to provide even more support to a young artist. In 2016, Jann began to anonymously sponsor the national Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The award was renamed as the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction in 2020 and is annually adjusted for wage inflation with a current value of $57,000. 

In late 2020, along with several other deserving Tauranga residents, we were delighted to see Jann named as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.