1st

Season of the Jew by Maurice Shadbolt (Hodder & Stoughton, 1986)

2nd

Head and Shoulders by Virginia Myers (Penguin, 1986)

3rd

Ngā Mōrehu: The Survivors by Judith Binney and Gillian Chaplin (Oxford University Press, 1986)

Poetry (first equal)

The Loop in the Lone Kauri Road: Poems, 1983–1985 by Allen Curnow (Auckland University Press & Oxford University Press, 1986)

Poetry (first equal)

Jump by Elizabeth Nannestad (Auckland University Press, 1986)

Fiction

Potiki by Patricia Grace (Penguin, 1986)

Non-Fiction

Head and Shoulders by Virginia Myers (Penguin, 1986)

Book Production

Focus on New Zealand edited by Brian Brake, designed by Donna Hoyle (Collins, 1986)