LIANZA announces the Children’s Book Award Finalists

News Release –Thursday 2nd June, 2011

LIANZA announces the Children’s Book Award Finalists for 2011

LIANZA (The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa) received over 100 nominations for their 2011 Children’s Book Awards with the prestigious LIANZA Esther Glen award receiving the highest number of submissions by publishers.

Awarded by Librarians for outstanding children’s literature in New Zealand, the LIANZA Awards are for excellence in junior fiction, young adult fiction, illustration, non-fiction and te reo Maori.

Belynda Smith, Panel Convenor and the Children’s & Young Adult Services Librarian at Takapuna Library commented that “the calibre of entries by some of our favourite writers and illustrators was outstanding. The quality of entries in the LIANZA Esther Glen and the LIANZA Young Adult was exceptional making it extremely difficult to narrow down the finalists”.

The judges found that reading submissions post the Canterbury earthquakes was a poignant experience, especially as many of the LIANZA Young Adult titles were tales of survival and on reflection it was as if some writers had a sense of what was about to come.

The magic of the picture book continues to delight for the LIANZA Russell Clark Award and the judging panel commended publishers for investing in these visual treasures.

Alice Heather, Panel Convenor for the te reo Maori category, says that "the high standard of this year’s entries for Te Kura Pounamu cover a wide range of genres and for very early to young adult readers with beautifully translated picture books, a graphic novel, non fiction and a novel series."
The LIANZA and Te Rōpū Whakahau taonga are the only awards for children’s books in te reo Maori supporting the Treaty of Waitangi and bicultural development of children’s literature in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The LIANZA Esther Glen Medal, New Zealand’s longest running book prize, is awarded for a distinguished work of fiction for children. In establishing the award in 1945 LIANZA named the book award after a pioneer in children’s literature, commemorating New Zealand children’s author and editor, Esther Glen.
The Judges for the LIANZA Esther Glen Medal, LIANZA Young Adult Medal, LIANZA Elsie Locke Medal, and LIANZA Russell Clark Medal are: Belynda Smith (Panel Convenor), Takapuna Library Auckland; Pene Walsh, Library Manager Gisborne District; and Lily O’Donovan, Children’s Specialist Wellington City Libraries.

The Te Kura Pounamu Award judges are: Alice Heather (Panel Convener); Māori Adviser for school Services National Library Auckland and teacher with library responsibility at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi marae, Margaret Ngaropo, Library Assistant Maori Services Manurewa Library and Naomi Cussack, teacher at TKKM o Puau te Moana Nui a Kiwain Glen Innes

The Full list of the LIANZA Children’s Book Award 2011 Finalists:

LIANZA Esther Glen Award (Junior Fiction)
The Haystack by Jack Lasenby, (HarperCollins Publishers (NZ) Ltd)
Dreams of Warriors by Susan Brocker (HarperCollins Publishers (NZ) Ltd)
Sheep on the Fourth Floor by Leonie Thorpe (HarperCollins Publishers (NZ) Ltd)
Boy Zero Wannabe Hero by Peter Millet (Faber & Faber)
Shadow of the Boyd by Diana Menefy (HarperCollins Publishers (NZ) Ltd)

LIANZA Young Adult Award (Fiction)
Smiling Jack by Ken Catran (HarperCollins Publishers (NZ) Ltd)
Fierce September by Fleur Beale (Random House New Zealand)
Ebony Hill by Anna Mackenzie (Longacre Press)
Blood Lines by TK Roxborogh (Penguin NZ)
Lethal Deliveries by Ken Benn (Penguin NZ)
The Limping Man by Maurice Gee (Puffin)

LIANZA Russell Clark Award (Illustration)
The Moon and Farmer McPhee by Margaret Mahy and David Elliot (Random House New Zealand)
Quaky Cat by Diana Noonan and Gavin Bishop (Scholastic)
Hill and Hole by Kyle Mewburn and Vasanti Unka (Puffin)
The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate by Joy Cowley and Sarah Davis (Gecko Press)
A Dog Like That! by Janene Cooper and Evie Kemp (Duck Creek Press)

LIANZA Elsie Locke (Non Fiction)
Weird Wabbit & Friends/ Star Boy & Friends Series by Vasanti Unka (Penguin NZ)
The Life Cycle of the Pukeko by Betty Brownlie (Scholastic)
Sensational Survivors by Sandra Morris (Walker Books Australia)
The Kiwi Fossil Hunters Handbook by James Campton and Marianna Terezow (Random House New Zealand)
The Tui NZ Kids’ Garden by Diana Noonan and Keith Olsen (Penguin NZ)

Te Kura Pounamu (te reo Maori)
Mahiara by Sally Sutton, Illustrated by Brian Lovelock, Retold by Kāterina Mataira (Walker Books Australia)
Ngarimu: Te Tohu Toa by Andrew Burdan (Huia Publishers/ Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga – Ministry of Education)
Rāwiri, Matiu, He Kura Te Tangata, He Ora Kai Te Kupu Series by Peti Nohotima (He Kupenga Hao i te Reo)
Manu Haututū by June Peka. Illustrated by Jo Thapa. Retold by Kāterina Mataira (Scholastic)
Kapa, Te Niu Series by Hana Pōmare and Heni Jacob (HANA Limited/ Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga – Ministry of Education)
Te Mata o Tuna, a Hina rāua ko Mo’o Kuna by Hana Pōmare, Ellie-May Logan and Hēni Jacob (HANA Limited/ Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga – Ministry of Education)

The 2011 Award Ceremony will take place in Wellington on Monday August 8th at Caffe L’affare, College Street.

The LIANZA Children’s Book Awards 2011 are supported by Fishpond.co.nz, Caffe L’affare and The Children’s Bookshop, Kilbirnie, Wellington.

Ends

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