30 Nov 2016
Librarian Pam Jones, educationalist Trish Brooking, authors Rachael King and Ben Brown, and bookseller and reviewer Sarah Forster have been appointed judges of the 2017 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and YoungAdults. The awards open for entry today.
The judging team — expanded from the three of previous years — will deliberate over an expected 150 entries in five categories: Picture Book, Illustration, Junior Fiction, Non-fiction and Young Adult Fiction. They will select five finalists, a winner in each category and then the overall winner, the Margaret Mahy Award for Book of the Year.
In addition, Riki-Lee Saua, Anahera Morehu, Te Rangi Rangi Tangohau and Rongo Waerea have been appointed as judges for Te Kura Pounamu – the award that recognises and celebrates books written or translated into te reo Māori. This category winner is also eligible for consideration for Book of the Year.
“This year the New Zealand Book Awards Trust took the strategic decision to increase the number of judges to further strengthen the integrity and excellence of the judging process,” says its chair Nicola Legat. “We are delighted to have such excellent judges for the 2017 awards. They all have huge experience of working across many aspects of children’s literature.”
The finalists will be announced on June 8, and the winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in Wellington in August. In the week leading up to the awards announcement, finalists will take part in a series of events around New Zealand.
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults is sponsored by Creative New Zealand, HELL Pizza, Book Tokens Ltd and Copyright Licensing Limited New Zealand (CLNZ). They are also supported by Nielsen BookData. The awards are administered for the New Zealand Book Awards Trust by the New Zealand Book Council.
Find out more about the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults
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