NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2020 winners announced

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

New Zealand poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh’s first book for children, Mophead, took home two awards, including the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year.

The winners in each category are:

Margaret Mahy Book of the Year ($7500)

• Mophead (Selina Tusitala Marsh, Auckland University Press)

Picture Book Award ($7500)

• Abigail and the Birth of the Sun (Matthew Cunningham, illus by Sarah Wilkins, Picture Puffin)

Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction ($7500) 

• Lizard’s Tale (Weng Wai Chan, Text)

Young Adult Fiction Award ($7500)

• Aspiring (Damien Wilkins, Annual Ink/Massey University Press)

Elsie Locke Award for Nonfiction ($7500)

• Mophead (Selina Tusitala Marsh, Auckland University Press)

Russell Clark Award for Illustration ($7500)

• 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)

Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written completely in te reo Māori ($7500)

• Tio Tiamu (Kurahau, illus by Laya Mutton-Rogers, Huia Publishers)

Best First Book Award ($2000)

• #Tumeke! (Michael Petherick, Annual Ink/Massey University Press).

The winners, chosen from shortlists released in June, were announced in an online ceremony on 12 August.

See the website for more information.

Category: Awards Junior Local news