The finalists for the 2022 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced.
The shortlists in each category, chosen from a record 199 entries, are:
picture book
- Grumpy Bumblebee (David Elliot, GeckoPress)
- Lion keeps the cake (Ruth Paul, scholastic)
- My cat can see ghosts (Emily Jo, Beatnik)
- The Eight Gifts of Te Wheke (Steph Matuku, illustration by Laya Mutton-Rogers, Huia Publishers)
- The biggest Haka festival on Earth (Pania Tahau-Hodges, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
junior fiction
- Amorangi and Millie’s time travel (Lauren Keenan, Huia Editors)
- spark chaser (Sonya Wilson, Cuba Press)
- The memory thief (Leonie Agnew, puffin)
- Tomo (Mary-Anne Scott, OneTree House)
- The uprising-Cartographers of Cruxcia (Eirlys Hunter, illustrations by Kirsten Slade, Gecko Press)
young adult
- coast guard (David Hill, puffin)
- Moved (Cristina Sanders, walker)
- Katipo Joe: The Wolf’s Den (Brian Falkner, Scholastic)
- Learn to love blue (Saradha Koirala, Record Press)
- Purple Black (Eileen Merriman, Penguin)
Non-Fiction Award
- Atua: Maori gods and heroes (Gavin Bishop, Picture Puffin)
- Draw awesome stuff (Donovan Bixley, UpstartPress)
- Why is this spider dancing? (Simon Pollard and Phil Sirvid, Te Papa Press)
- How do I feel? A dictionary of emotions for children (Rebekah Lipp, illustration by Craig Phillips, Wildling Books)
- Kia Kaha: A Book of Stories About the Maori Who Changed the World (Stacey Morrison and Jeremy Sherlock, Puffin)
Drawing
- Atua: Maori gods and heroes (Gavin Bishop, Picture Puffin)
- Mokopuna Matatini (Hemi-Morehouse story, written by Pania Tahau-Hodges, Huia Publishers)
- Moose the pilot (Kimberly Andrews, Penguin Random House New Zealand)
- My cat can see ghosts (Emily Joe, Beatnik)
- The Eight Gifts of Te Wheke (Laya Mutton-Rogers, written by Steph Matuku, Huia Publishers)
Te Kura Pounamu Award for Books Written Entirely in Te Reo Māori
- He Wheke Wai Mamangu Au (Stephanie Thatcher, trans by Pānia Papa, Scholastic)
- I Waho, I moana you (Yvonne Morrison, illustration by Jenny Cooper, trans by Pānia Papa, Scholastic)
- Ki te Moe Aotearoa (Donovan Bixley, trans by Darryn Joseph, Upstart Press)
- Mokopuna Matatini (Pania Tahau-Hodges, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
- Te Hipo Huna (Juliette MacIver, illustration by Sarah Davis, trans by Karena Kelly, Gecko Press)
Best First Book
- Hine and the Tohunga Portal (Ataria Sharman, Huia Publishers)
- i am autistic (Chanelle Moriah, A&U)
- Mokopuna Matatini (Pania Tahau-Hodges, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse, Huia Publishers)
- My cat can see ghosts (Emily Joe, Beatnik)
- spark chaser (Sonya Wilson, Cuba Press).
The growing strength of books with the te ao Māori worldview and the growing number and quality of titles in te reo Māori stood out to this year’s judges. “The Maori language and worldviews are taonga unique to Aotearoa,” said judges chairperson Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith. “Having these values in children’s literature is an encouraging sign of our nation’s growth.”
Winners in each of the six main categories receive NZ$7,500, while the winner of the best first book award receives NZ$2,500. The winners of the six main categories then go on to compete for the overall Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award, which awards an additional NZ$7,500.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Wellington on August 10. For more information on the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults see the NZ Book Awards Trust website.
Category: Junior Distinctions Local News
