Last night the winners of the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards were announced, with the major prize for Book of the Year going to Margaret Mahy and David Elliot's picture book The Moon & Farmer McPhee. Today's New Zealand Herald article gives more detail about the ceremony, including highlights from Margaret Mahy's acceptance speech. Beattie's Book Blog also has a great posting, which includes snippets about the winning authors. For full publication details visit the Booksellers NZ webpage on the awards.
The books that were nominated for these awards were on display in the Sylvia Ashton-Warner Library last month. Now that the winners have been announced this display will again appear for those interested in browsing through the top titles.
The library holds copies of all of the winning and shortlisted titles, at both Epsom and Tai Tokerau. The winners are:
BEST FIRST BOOK AWARD
Hollie Chips by Anna Gowan
NON-FICTION
Zero Hour by Leon Davidson
BEST JUNIOR
Finnigan & the Pirates by Sherryl Jordan
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
Fierce September by Fleur Beale
PICTURE BOOK AWARD
The Moon and Farmer McPhee by Margaret Mahy and David Elliot
2011 CHILDREN'S CHOICE AWARD
Baa Baa Smart Sheep by Mark Sommerset, illustrated by Rowan Sommerset
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Moon and Farmer McPhee by Margaret Mahy and David Elliot
The judges report is also available online.