Jock Phillips receives PM's Award for Literary Achievement

Jock Phillips receives Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement

Staff at Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage are delighted to see their colleague Jock Phillips recognised for his achievement in receiving the 2014 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for Non-fiction, says Lewis Holden, Chief Executive of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Dr Jock Phillips ONZM has worked at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage since 2002 and was instrumental in the development of Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Phillips is currently Senior Editor of Te Ara and retires from the Ministry next week.

Lewis Holden says Jock Philips has made a rich contribution to the cause of New Zealand history and been a valued colleague and mentor to many Ministry staff. "As well as the many great books written and edited by Jock throughout his illustrious career, he was the driving force behind Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. This is a resource that will inform and educate New Zealanders for generations to come and is an online legacy that Jock can be immensely proud of — we thank him for his remarkable body of work," says Holden.

Hon Maggie Barry, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, will present the awards at a ceremony held at Premier House, Wellington, on Thursday 23 October.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand is a comprehensive guide to New Zealand's peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy and society. It contains 1000 stories written by 600 writers; a total of over 3 million words. The project went live in 2005 and this week Te Ara launches the final theme of the first build of the site, entitled Creative and Intellectual Life.
Some of the many Te Ara entries Phillips has written include: Sport and the nation, The New Zealand Bush, History of Immigration, Visitors’ Opinions about New Zealand, Farm Families, Rural Mythologies, Painting, Sub Antarctic Islands, Timekeeping, and Beach culture.

The Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement are given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to New Zealand literature. In addition to Jock Phillips, the recipients of this year's awards are Jack Lasenby (fiction) and Ian Wedde (poetry). The awards are administered by Creative New Zealand.

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