New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults

Book your tickets now to join in the celebration of the best books of the year for young New Zealand readers at the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. You’ll get to meet the finalists and applaud the winners at an exuberant awards ceremony – emceed by Jase Te Patu – in the atmospheric Pipitea Marae on Thursday 10 August.

Thirty-eight talented children’s writers, illustrators and translators are finalists in this year’s awards. Their achievements will be acknowledged on the night by publishers, politicians, booksellers, librarians, media and supporters of the children’s literature community. Members of the public are welcome to purchase tickets too.

Winners in the 2023 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults will be announced in six categories: Picture Book, Junior Fiction (the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen award), Young Adult Fiction, Non-Fiction, Illustration (the Russell Clark Award) and Te Reo Māori (the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award).

Category winners will compete to be named the night’s supreme winner of the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year. The judges will also present the NZSA Best First Book award to a previously unpublished author or illustrator from a shortlist of five titles.

All guests with tickets are also invited to join the post-ceremony reception, with refreshments from 8.15pm to 9.30pm.

This is a popular event with a limited number of seats available, so buy your ticket today and enjoy this unique celebration of Aotearoa’s very best children’s literature.