Remarkable Kiwis win the non-fiction Children’s Choice award

‘New Zealand Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis win the non-fiction Children’s Choice award at the 2012 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards

New Holland Publishers continues to cement itself firmly as a tastemaker in local children’s non-fiction, as New Zealand Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis won the coveted Children’s Choice award in the non-fiction category at the New Zealand Post Children’s Book awards in Wellington last night.

Author and finalist Maria Gill’s writing style and inspiring collection of potted biographies on 50 great New Zealanders proved the most popular amongst young readers in the non-fiction category, trumping the overall winner of the awards, and the judges’ pick (Kiwi Soldier in World War l), also in the non-fiction section.

Being established as the children’s clear favourite as a non-fiction read is a mark of the highest calibre and can be seen as the classroom popularity contest; a reflection of what both young boys and girls are enjoying reading today.

Maria Gill is delighted to have co-authored the popular book, New Zealand Hall of Fame: 50 Remarkable Kiwis, with Bruce Potter, with his lifelike caricatures illustrating Maria’s profiles of New Zealand's world-famous musicians, artists, sports stars and inventors.

“Bruce Potter and I were thrilled to receive the Children’s Choice Award for non-fiction. They are our target audience so it means a lot when they pick your book as their favourite. It certainly has been popular when we’ve visited schools.”

For two months from the end of February to April, children voted on their favourite reads on-line at www.nzpostbookawards.co.nz or by voting cards in their schools, local libraries or bookstores.

New Zealand Hall of Fame also features on the Storylines Notable Books List 2012, selected by a panel of current children’s literature professionals.

The Awards:
• The annual children’s awards celebrate the best of our home-grown writing talent in four major categories, Picture book, non-fiction, junior fiction and young adult fiction (as well a Māori Language Award for books written in Te Reo.
• The finalists were selected from more than 130 children’s books published in New Zealand in 2011 and submitted for the awards.
• New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2012 Judges: Julia Chandler, Annemarie Florian, Bob Kerr
• News on the awards were trending on twitter: #nzpcba
• For a full list of the judges’ winners, click http://ow.ly/aXDCx
• For photos from the event, click http://ow.ly/aXB5S Photo of Maria: http://tiny.cc/ujifew Photo of Maria & Bruce: http://tiny.cc/kmifew

New Holland books from Maria Gill currently in print:
• Eruption: Discovering New Zealand’s Volcanoes by Maria Gill, RRP $21.00, to be published July 2012
• Call of the Kokako by Maria Gill, illustrated by Heather Arnold, RRP $29.99, published June 2011
• New Zealand Hall of Fame by Maria Gill, illustrated by Bruce Potter, RRP $34.99, published May 2011
• Save Our Seas: Continuing the mission of the adventurer Sir Peter Blake by Maria Gill, illustrated by Vivienne Lingard, RRP $21.00, published June 2009
• Eco-Rangers Save the Planet by Maria Gill, illustrated by Vivienne Lingard, RRP $19.99, October 2009

Maria Gill www.mariagill.co.nz/
Maria Gill writes children’s non-fiction often with an environmental message. She has had seven books published, including New Zealand Hall of Fame and The Call of the Kokako with New Holland. Both books feature on the Storylines Notable Books List 2012. Maria writes full-time from her lifestyle block in Matakana and regularly visits schools and libraries around the country promoting New Zealand Books. Her website www.mariagill.co.nz provides teacher’s notes and other valuable resources.

Bruce Potter
Bruce Potter is an international award-winning illustrator of nearly 100 books. His Whale Rider (illustrated edition) has been translated into many languages. Bruce is known for his realistic style and fine detail but he also has a background in cartooning and caricature for a number of newspapers around the world.

ENDS

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