NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults finalists announced

The finalists for the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced.

The shortlists in each category are:

Picture book

• Duck Goes Meow (Juliette MacIver, illus by Carla Martell, Scholastic New Zealand)
• Farewell, Anahera (Vanessa Hatley-Owen, illus by Scott Irvine, trans by Kanapu Rangitauira, Duck Creek Press & David Ling Publishing)
• How My Koro Became a Star (Brianne Te Paa, illus by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
• Roo and Vladimir: An unlikely friendship (Minky Stapleton, Scholastic New Zealand)
• The Lighthouse Princess (Susan Wardell, illus by Rose Northey, Puffin)

Junior fiction 

• Below (David Hill, Puffin)
• Children of the Rush (James Russell, Dragon Brothers Books)
• Jason Mason and the World’s Most Powerful Itching Powder (Jason & Andrew Gunn, Bateman Books)
• Masher (Fifi Colston, Puffin)
• Pipi and Pou and the Raging Mountain (Tim Tipene, illus by Isobel Te Aho-White, OneTree House)

Young adult 

• Andromeda Bond in Trouble Deep (Brian Falkner, Red Button Press)
• Eddy, Eddy (Kate De Goldi, A&U)
• Indigo Moon (Eileen Merriman, Penguin)
• Iris and Me (Philippa Werry, Ahoy, The Cuba Press)
• Miracle (Jennifer Lane, Cloud Ink Press)

Nonfiction award

• A New Dawn (Emili Sione, illus by Darcy Solia, Mila’s Books)
• Freestyle: The Israel Adesanya story (David Riley, illus by Ant Sang, Reading Warrior)
• Sylvia and the Birds (Johanna Emeney & Sarah Laing, Massey University Press)
• Te Wehenga: The separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku (Mat Tait, A&U)
• Weather and Climate New Zealand (Sandra Carrod, Oratia Books) 

Illustration

• A Portrait of Leonardo (Donovan Bixley, Upstart)
• Four Yaks and a Yeti (Ant Sang, Bateman Books)
• Roar Squeak Purr: A New Zealand treasury of animal poems (Jenny Cooper, Puffin)
• Te Wehenga: The separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku (Mat Tait, A&U)
• The Lighthouse Princess (Rose Northey, Puffin)

Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written entirely in te reo Māori

• He Raru ki Tai (Jane Cooper, illus by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
• Kua Whetūrangitia a Koro (Brianne Te Paa, illus by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
• Te Kōkōrangi: Te Aranga o Matariki (Witi Ihimaera, illus by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, trans by Hēni Jacob, Puffin) 

Best first book 

• Echo (Arlo Kelly, Sparrow Press)
• He Raru ki Tai (Jane Cooper, illus by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
• Holding the Horse (J L Williams, Ocean Echo Books and Cave Books)
• Kidnap at Mystery Island (Carol Garden, Scholastic New Zealand)
• The Lighthouse Princess (Susan Wardell, illus Rose Northey, Puffin).

The winners of each of the six main categories receive NZ$7500, while the winner of the best first book award receives NZ$2500. The winners in the six main categories then go into the running for the overall Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award, which awards a further NZ$7500 prize money.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Wellington on 10 August. For more information about the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, see the NZ Book Awards Trust website.

Category: Local news