The organisers of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults – which recognise and celebrate the best books for young readers published annually in Aotearoa – are now inviting submissions for the 2025 awards. Titles with release dates between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 will be considered.

As it opens entries for the 2025 awards, the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa is announcing a significant move to highlight and reward books originally written in te reo Māori, while continuing to acknowledge the considerable skill that is involved in translation from English.

From 2025, two separate prizes will be presented within the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu category, one for the best book originally (and entirely) written in te reo Māori, and a second for the best translated work.

Chair of the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Nicola Legat says it is important to honour the legacy of Te Kura Pounamu Award, first established in 1996 in partnership with Te Rōpū Whakahau as part of the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards, but also to ensure it evolves to best acknowledge the two distinct categories of te reo Māori pukapuka currently being created and published.

“By shining a spotlight on original writing, we hope to play our part in helping to support a new generation of Māori writers for tamariki, telling uniquely Māori stories,” she says.

In addition to Te Kura Pounamu category for te reo Māori, the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are presented in five other categories: Picture Book, Junior Fiction (the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award), Young Adult Fiction, Non-Fiction (the Elsie Locke Award), and Illustration (the Russell Clark Award). Up to five finalists are selected for each category.

A separate shortlist of up to five books is also selected by the judges for the NZSA Best First Book Award, presented to a previously unpublished author or illustrator.

The judges of the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults will be announced by mid-December, and their shortlists will be made public on 5 June 2025. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Wellington on Wednesday 13 August 2025.

There are two submission dates for the 2025 awards. Publishers are asked to observe the guidelines for sending entries in two tranches, which are in place for ease of sending to judges. Submissions are now open for books published between 1 April 2024 and 30 November 2024, and will close at 5pm on Thursday 12 December 2024. For books published between 1 December 2024 and 31 March 2025, submissions open on 13 December and will close at 5pm on Monday 10 February 2025.

For books in the second tranche, page proofs will be accepted where books are not yet printed. In such cases, finished books must arrive with the Awards Administrator, New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, Attn: Joy Sellen, 72 Te Wharepōuri Street, Wellington 6023, by 5pm on Friday 7 March 2025.

All entries must be submitted online at www.nzbookawards.nz and fees paid by credit card via the online submission form.

A Call for Entries pack with eligibility criteria and other information is available at http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards-for-children-and-young-adults/how-to-enter/. Eligibility criteria and conditions of entry are reviewed each year, so even publishers who enter books annually are encouraged to read the pack carefully before completing the online form.

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa, and supported by Creative New Zealand, HELL Pizza, the Wright Family Foundation, LIANZA Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa, Wellington City Council, the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (NZSA), and Nielsen BookData.

Any queries about the Awards should be directed to Awards Administrator Joy Sellen at childrensawards@nzbookawards.org.nz.