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NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2020 finalists announced

Friday, 5 June 2020   Books+Publishing
@booksandpublishing

The finalists for the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced.

The shortlists in each category, chosen from a record 178 entries, are:

Picture Book Award

  • Abigail and the Birth of the Sun (Matthew Cunningham, illus by Sarah Wilkins, Penguin Random House)
  • How Māui Slowed the Sun (Donovan Bixley, advised and translated by Darryn Joseph and Keri Opai, Upstart Press)
  • Mini Whinny: Goody Four Shoes (Stacy Gregg, illus by Ruth Paul, Scholastic NZ)
  • Santa’s Worst Christmas (Pania Tahau-Hodges and Bryony Walker, illus by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Huia Publishers)
  • The Gobbledegook Book (Joy Cowley, illus by Giselle Clarkson, Gecko Press)

Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction

  • #Tumeke! (Michael Petherick, Annual Ink/Massey University Press)
  • Lizard’s Tale (Weng Wai Chan, Text)
  • Miniwings Book 6: Moonlight the Unicorn’s High Tea Hiccup (Sally Sutton, illus by Kirsten Richards, Scholastic NZ)
  • Prince of Ponies (Stacy Gregg, HarperCollins)
  • Time Machine and other stories (Melinda Szymanik, The Cuba Press)

Young Adult Fiction Award

  • Afakasi woman (Lani Wendt Young, OneTree House)
  • Aspiring (Damien Wilkins, Annual Ink/Massey University Press)
  • The History Speech (Mark Sweet, Huia Publishers)
  • Ursa (Tina Shaw, Walker Books Australia)
  • Wynter’s Thief (Sherryl Jordan, OneTree House)

Elsie Locke Award for Nonfiction

  • Kuwi & Friends Māori Picture Dictionary (written and illus by Kat Quin, translated by Pānia Papa, Illustrated Publishing)
  • Mophead (Selina Tusitala Marsh, Auckland University Press)
  • Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi (Ross Calman and Mark Derby, illus by Toby Morris, translated by Piripi Walker, Lift Education)
  • The Adventures of Tupaia, Courtney Sina Meredith, illustrated by Mat Tait, A&U, in partnership with Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum)
  • Three Kiwi Tales (Janet Hunt, Massey University Press)

Russell Clark Award for Illustration

  • Dozer the Fire Cat (illus by Jenny Cooper, written by Robyn Prokop, Scholastic NZ)
  • Santa’s Worst Christmas (illus by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, written by Pania Tahau-Hodges and Bryony Walker, Huia Publishers)
  • Song of the River, illus by Kimberly Andrews, written by Joy Cowley, Gecko Press)
  • The Adventures of Tupaia (illus by Mat Tait, written by Courtney Sina Meredith, A&U, in partnership with Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum)
  • Wildlife of Aotearoa (illus and written by Gavin Bishop, PRH)

Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written completely in te reo Māori

  •  Arapū Toi (Moira Wairama, illus by Austin Whincup, Baggage Books)
  • Ko Flit, te Tīrairaka, me ngā Hēki Muna (written and illus by Kat Quin, translated by Ngaere Roberts, Scholastic NZ)
  • Ngā Hoa Hoihoi o Kuwi (written and illus by Kat Quin, translated by Pānia Papa, Illustrated Publishing)
  • Te Kirihimete i Whakakorea (Pania Tahau-Hodges and Bryony Walker, illus by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, translated by Kawata Teepa, Huia Publishers)
  • Tio Tiamu, Kurahau (illus by Laya Mutton-Rogers, Huia Publishers)

Best First Book Award

  • Michael Petherick for #Tumeke! (Annual Ink/Massey University Press)
  • Weng Wai Chan for Lizard’s Tale (Text)
  • Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (illustrator) for Santa’s Worst Christmas (written by Pania Tahau-Hodges and Bryony Walker, Huia Publishers)
  • Belinda O’Keefe for The Day the Plants Fought Back (illus by Richard Hoit, Scholastic NZ)
  • Laya Mutton-Rogers (illustrator) for The Smelly Giant (written by Kurahau, Huia Publishers).

The winners of each of the six main categories–Picture Book, Junior Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Illustration and te reo Māori–win NZ$7500. Their books are then in the running to be named the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, with a further NZ$7500 prize money. The judges will also award a Best First Book prize of NZ$2000 to a previously unpublished author or illustrator.

The winners of the awards will be announced in a virtual presentation, streamed online on the evening of Wednesday 12 August.

 

Category: Local news