Montana New Zealand Book Awards

Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.

Organised and administrated by Booksellers New Zealand, the trade association for booksellers and publishers, The Montana New Zealand Book Awards were awarded from 1996-2009. Later (2010-2014) the awards were know as the New Zealand Post Book Awards. From 2015, the awards became known as the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

The winner in each category received $5000. Each category winner was then eligible for the Montana Medal for Non-fiction or the Montana Medal for Poetry or Fiction, both of which had a $10,000 prize.

See more literary prize winners.

2009

Fiction

Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins (Allen & Unwin) Winner and Winner of Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry
The 10PM Question by Kate De Goldi (Longacre Press) runner up
Acid Song by Bernard Beckett (Longacre Press) runner up
The Crocus Hour by Charlotte Randall (Penguin Group NZ)
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press)

Poetry

The Rocky Shore by Jenny Bornholdt (Victoria University Press) Winner
Get Some by Sonja Yelich (Auckland University Press)
The Lakes of Mars by Chris Orsman (Auckland University Press)

Biography

Rita Angus: An Artist's Life by Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press) Winner and Winner of Montana Medal for Non-fiction
The Love School: Personal Essays by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press)
Heaphy by Iain Sharp (Auckland University Press)

Environment

A Continent on the Move: New Zealand Geoscience into the 21st Century edited by Ian Graham (Geological Society of New Zealand) Winner
Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany by Brian Turner (Random House NZ)
Albatross: Their World, Their Ways by Tui De Roy and Mark Jones (David Bateman)

History

Buying the Land, Selling the Land by Richard Boast (Victoria University Press) Winner
Mates & Lovers: A Gay History of New Zealand by Chris Brickell (Random House NZ)
First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking by David Veart (Auckland University Press)

Illustrative

Len Castle: Making the Molecules Dance by Len Castle (Lopdell House Gallery) Winner
Peter Peryer: Photographer by Peter Simpson with photos by Peter Peryer (Auckland University Press)
Certain Words Drawn by John Reynolds (Random House NZ)

Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture

Ladies, A Plate: Traditional Home Baking by Alexa Johnston (Penguin Group NZ) Winner
The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand's Culinary History by Helen Leach (Otago University Press)
Art Icons of New Zealand: Lines in the Sand by Oliver Stead (David Bateman)

Reference & Anthology

Collected Poems 1951-2006 by CK Stead (Auckland University Press) Winner
The Painted Garden in New Zealand Art by Christopher Johnstone (Random House NZ)
The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield, Volume 5: 1922 edited by Vincent O'Sullivan and Margaret Scott (Oxford University Press).

Te Reo Māori

He Pātaka Kupu te kai a te rangatira (A Storehouse of Words - the food of chiefs) Winner