Past Winners

2026

New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

  • Margaret Mahy Book of the Year

    A Guide to Rocks

    Written by Sacha Cotter and illustrated by Josh Morgan (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata) (Huia Publishers)

  • BookHub Picture Book Award

    A Guide to Rocks

    Written by Sacha Cotter and illustrated by Josh Morgan (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata) (Huia Publishers)

  • Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction

    Dreamslinger

    Written by Graci Kim (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

  • Wheelers Books Award for Young Adult Fiction

    The Lost Saint

    Written by Rachael Craw (Allen and Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand)

  • Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction

    Whenua: Māori Pūrākau of Aotearoa

    Written and illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu) (Little Moa, Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand)

  • Russell Clark Award for Illustration

    Kupe and the Great Octopus of Muturangi

    Illustrated and written by Mat Tait (Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau) (Allen and Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand)

  • Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for a Book Originally Written in Te Reo Māori

    Kupe me te Wheke nui a Muturangi

    Written and illustrated by Mat Tait (Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Kuia, Rangitāne o Wairau) (Allen and Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand)

  • Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for a Book Translated into Te Reo Māori

    He Taonga te Toka

    Written by Sacha Cotter, illustrated by Josh Morgan (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata) and translated by Kawata Teepa (Tūhoe, Te Whakatōhea) (Huia Publishers)

  • NZSA Best First Book Award

    Te Onehaumako

    Written by Zeb Tamihana Nicklin (Pāhauwera, Ruapani, Tūhoe, Tāmanuhiri) (Huia Publishers)