Submissions for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards opened today. Governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa, these prestigious awards provide recognition of, and promote excellence in, the best books for adult readers published annually in Aotearoa.
Books with release dates between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025 will be considered for the 2026 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 for titles published between 1 January 2025 and 31 August 2025 are now open and will close at 5pm on Wednesday 3 September 2025.
Online entries for titles published between 1 September 2025 and 31 December 2025 open on Thursday 4 September and close 5pm on Wednesday 16 October 2025.
Page proofs for books in the second tranche will be accepted if books publishing in November and December have not been printed at the time that online submissions close. In these cases, finished books must arrive with the Awards Administrator no later than 5pm on Friday 21 November.
Submitters are encouraged to read the conditions of entry in the Call for Entries pack in full before completing entries, as some criteria signalled last year have now been changed and some clauses added, including restrictions on the use of AI. For both first and second tranches, click here for eligibility criteria and the Call for Entries information pack, then enter online here.
The twelve judges for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be revealed next month, and their longlists for the four awards categories (fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction) will be announced on 29 January 2026. The shortlist will be announced on 4 March and the 2026 awards ceremony will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau on Wednesday 13 May, in collaboration with the Auckland Writers Festival. There is a total of $125,000 in prize money available for the winners.
All entries must be submitted online at www.nzbookawards.nz and fees paid by credit card via the online submission form.
For any further enquiries, please email Awards Administrator Chris Chan at awards@nzbookawards.org.nz.
The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are supported by Ockham Residential, Creative New Zealand, Jann Medlicott and the Acorn Foundation, Mary and Peter Biggs CNZM, BookHub presented by Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand, the Mātātuhi Foundation, and the Auckland Writers Festival, which hosts the awards ceremony as a marquee event in its annual programme.