A book described as a taonga for this generation and the next, written and illustrated by one of the country’s most lauded authors, was crowned the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year at the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults ceremony, held at the Alan Gibbs Centre at Wellington College on 10 August.
Atua: Māori Gods and Heroes by multi-award-winning author Gavin Bishop was praised by the judges for its sense of magic and the way it validates matauranga and te ao Māori truths.
Full list of winners for the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults:
Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award $7500
Atua: Māori Gods and Heroes, written and illustrated by Gavin Bishop (Puffin, Penguin Random House)
Picture Book Award $7500
Lion Guards the Cake, written and illustrated by Ruth Paul (Scholastic New Zealand)
Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction $7500
The Memory Thief, written by Leonie Agnew (Puffin, Penguin Random House). Congratulations to Mary-anne Scott, whose book The Tomo was a finalist.
Young Adult Fiction Award $7500
Learning to Love Blue, written by Saradha Koirala (Record Press)
Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction $7500
Atua: Māori Gods and Heroes, written and illustrated by Gavin Bishop (Puffin, Penguin Random House)
Russell Clark Award for Illustration $7500
Atua: Māori Gods and Heroes, written and illustrated by Gavin Bishop (Puffin, Penguin Random House)
Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for te reo Māori $7500
I Waho, i te Moana, written by Yvonne Morrison, translated by Pānia Papa and illustrated by Jenny Cooper (Scholastic New Zealand). Jenny Cooper has also illustrated the beautiful book Rush! Rush! written by Elena de Roo.
NZSA Best First Book Award $2500
Spark Hunter, written by Sonya Wilson (The Cuba Press)
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