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Reading, Wellington, and whatever else – teenblog@wcl.govt.nz

Tag: Book awards

From the Vaults IX: Award-Winners

Well, the world has hurtled around the sun exactly once since we last added to the From the Vaults series. For those of you who are new here, From the Vaults is where we delve into the weirdest corners of our shelves to dust off some of the cool, bizarre, interesting, or just plain old stuff we have that you might not know about. So far, we’ve covered really old stuff, the Archives of Sexuality and Gender, manga gems from the ’80s and ’90s (twice!), books in languages other than English and te reo, printed music, and much more.

Anyway, since the heavens have literally aligned today, we thought it would be a good idea to bring this series back from the brink of death. And, fresh from the excitement around the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, what better topic to choose than award-winning books?

Sorry, not quite those awards. via GIPHY

For today’s post, we are going to be focussing on past winners of the YA Fiction Award from the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. This award has an interesting history. Prior to 1993, there was no separate award recognising Young Adult fiction, but some winners of the general Fiction award would be considered part of the YA canon today. The YA Fiction Award proper came into existence in the year 1993 as part of the AIM Children’s Book Awards, and was known as the “Senior Fiction Award” from 1993-2004. In 1997, the AIM Children’s Book Awards became the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards, and then it changed again to the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2004, at which time the “Senior Fiction Award” became the “Young Adult Fiction Award.”

Fastforward to 2023, sidestep another couple of minor name changes, and the overall awards are now known as the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, and the Young Adult Fiction Award carries prize money of NZ$7,500. In its distinguished history, it has been won by a number of the greats of New Zealand literature, with luminaries like Margaret Mahy, Jack Lasenby, Kate De Goldi, Maurice Gee, Tessa Duder, Elizabeth Knox and more in its list of recipients.

We have most of the award-winning books in our collection — explore the full list below, and visit our Book Award Winners booklist to find more juicy reads that have won other literary prizes.

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults — Young Adult Fiction Award (2015 – 2023)

New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults — Young Adult Fiction Award (2004 – 2014)

New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards — Senior Fiction Award (1997 – 2003)

AIM Children’s Book Awards — Senior Fiction Award (1993 – 1997)

  • Crossroads / Janice Marriott (1996 winner)*
  • The Blue Lawn / William Taylor (1995 winner)
  • The Value of X / Pat Quinn (1994 winner)*
  • Songs for Alex / Tessa Duder (1993 winner)

* Unfortunately these titles are unavailable to be borrowed from Wellington City Libraries.

Next time on From the Vaults, we’ll explore the winners of the Storylines Tessa Duder Award for young adult fiction and its historical predecessors, so stay tuned for more literary greats!

New Zealand Post Book Awards

The nominees are:

Young Adult Fiction

A Necklace of Souls, by R L Stedman – “In a hidden kingdom a mysterious Guardian protects her people with the help of a magical necklace. But evil forces are also seeking the power of the necklace, and as the Guardian grows weaker these forces threaten to destroy the kingdom. With the help of her best friend, Will, and the enigmatic N’tombe, Dana, the rightful heir, must claim the power of the necklace and save her people. But the necklace takes a terrible toll on whoever wears it – a toll that Dana may not be prepared to face” – Publisher information.

Bugs, by Whiti Hereaka – “Bugs is about the unfolding lives of three young people in their last year of school in small-town New Zealand. Life is slow, and it seems not much happens in town or in Jez and Bugs’s lives. But when Stone Cold arrives, the three come to different conclusions about how to deal with being trapped in a small town and at the bottom of the heap” – Publisher information.

Mortal Fire, by Elizabeth Knox – “When sixteen-year-old Canny of the Pacific island, Southland, sets out on a trip with her stepbrother and his girlfriend, she finds herself drawn into enchanting Zarene Valley where the mysterious but dark seventeen-year-old Ghislain helps her to figure out her origins” – Publisher information.

Speed Freak, by Fleur Beale – “Fifteen-year-old Archie is a top kart driver, aiming to win the Challenge series and its prize of racing in Europe. He loves the speed, the roar of the engine, the tactics and the thrill of driving to the limits. Craig is his main rival, and there’s also Silver, who drives like she’s got a demon inside. Archie knows he’ll need all his skill and focus to win. But sometimes, too, you need plain old luck. Can Archie overcome the odds and win?” – Back cover.

When We Wake, by Karen Healey – In 2027, sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl–playing the guitar, falling in love, and protesting the wrongs of the world with her friends. But then Tegan dies, waking up 100 years in the future as the unknowing first government guinea pig to be cryogenically frozen and successfully revived. Appalling secrets about her new world come to light, and Tegan must choose to either keep her head down or fight for a better future. (catalogue summary)

Congratulations to these fab New Zealand authors, and all the best!

New Zealand Post Book Awards

This week the winners of the New Zealand Post Book Awards were announced, and a YA book took out the main prize. Well done that book!

Winner of the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award, and the Best Young Adult Fiction Award:

Into the River, Ted Dawe. “When Te Arepa Santos is dragged into the river by a giant eel, something happens that will change the course of his whole life. The boy who struggles to the bank is not the same one who plunged in, moments earlier. He has brushed against the spirit world, and there is a price to be paid; an utu to be exacted. Years later, far from the protection of whanau and ancestral land he finds new enemies. This time, with on-one to save him, there is a decision to be made.. he can wait on the bank, or leap forward into the river.” (goodreads.com)

Award Winning Graphic Novels

The annual Eisner Awards (sometimes called the Oscars of the comic industry according to Wikipedia) were held in July at the annual Comic-Con in San Diego, with some interesting winners announced:

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol won the Young Adult category. “Anya could really use a friend. But her new BFF isn’t kidding about the “Forever” part… Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century. Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya’s normal life might actually be worse. She’s embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she’s pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.” (goodreads.com)

Battlepug by Mike Norton won the Best Digital Comic category. We’ve just got this one in recently. It’s a pug (the cute little dogs with the punched-in noses), but it’s a battlepug. You can find out more on the website, or the battlepug is also on Twitter.

And Another Global Competition

The 90 Second Newbery Film Festival is a worldwide competition in which entrants get the chance to condense a classic Newbery medal winning (or honour) book (see here for a list) into a 90 second dramatisastion.

It’s a (very little) bit like writing a haiku of an epic classic, but involving more effort and equipment, and the chance that your offering will be shown at a glitzy event at the New York Public Library. Deadline: 15 September 2011.

The first entry, for A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is here.

Thanks to the people at the National Library (NZ) for pointing this one out.

If you like voting, vote here

While New Zealand is getting all excited about voting for mayors and whatnot (if you’re 18 or over then don’t forget to vote by October 9!), here are a couple of places you can exercise your right by voting in the following competitions/vote offs/popularity contests:

1) Until the 17th (was a bit slow out of the blocks) you can vote on the ALA (American Library Association) Teen Choice Teens Top 10 2010 List. Voting is for the best books of the previous year, so titles include such gems as Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, and much more.

2) And again, if you vote, like, today (sorry!), there are the Teen Reads Awards. These are Canadian, and they’re a bit like the Teen Choice awards you see on TV. Categories include Best Hottie, Best Villain and Best Lip Lock, see.

We might check back in later with results, in case you’re interested.

Flora Wins an Award

book coverThe book with the cool, long title, Flora’s Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) by Ysabeau S. Wilce, has been acknowledged at the annual Nebula Awards, being given the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy (a suitably long award title).

book coverFlora fans will be chuffed to hear this. If you’re a Flora fan and you feel so moved, you can send us a review. We’re curious to hear about the books (the other is Flora Segunda, being the magickal mishaps of a girl of spirit, her glass-gazing sidekick, two ominous butlers (one blue), a house with eleven thousand rooms, and a red dog).