New Zealand Post Book Awards

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

The New Zealand Book Awards are currently sponsored by Ockham. From 2010 to 2014, the awards were know as the New Zealand Post Book Awards. The principal sponsors of the New Zealand Post Book Awards were the New Zealand Post Group and Creative New Zealand. The awards were managed by Booksellers New Zealand and supported by the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

The overall winner of the Book of the Year Award received $15,000. Winners of the four Category Awards each received $10,000, the Māori Language Award $10,000, Readers’ Choice Award $5,000, and each of the winners of the three NZSA Best First Book Awards, $2,500.

See more literary prize winners.

2014

New Zealand Post Book of the Year and General Non-Fiction winner

Peter McLeavey: the life and times of a New Zealand art dealer Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press)

People’s Choice Award winner

The Luminaries Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press)

Fiction

The Luminaries Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press) Winner
The bright side of my condition Charlotte Randall (Penguin Books)
The last days of the national costume Anne Kennedy (Allen & Unwin)
Max Gate Damien Wilkins (Victoria University Press)

Poetry

Us, then Vincent O’Sullivan (Victoria University Press) Winner
Gathering evidence Caoilinn Hughes (Victoria University Press)
Heartland Michele Leggott (Auckland University Press)
Horse with hat Marty Smith (Victoria University Press)

Illustrated Non-Fiction

Coast: a New Zealand journey Bruce Ansley & Jane Ussher (Random House NZ - Godwit) Winner
Greer Twiss: sculptor Greer Twiss, Dr Robin Woodward & Haru Sameshima (Ron Sang Publications)
New Zealand and the First World War 1914-1919 Damien Fenton, (Penguin Books in association with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage)
Promoting prosperity: the art of early New Zealand advertising Peter Alsop and Gary Stewart (Craig Potton Publishing)

General Non-Fiction

Peter McLeavey: the life and times of a New Zealand art dealer Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press) Winner
A history of silence Lloyd Jones (Penguin Books)
The mighty totara: the life and times of Norman Kirk David Grant (Random House NZ)
Tragedy at Pike River Mine Rebecca Macfie (Awa Press)

Nielsen Booksellers’s Choice

Molesworth: stories from New Zealand’s largest high-country station Harry Broad and Rob Suisted (Craig Potton Publishing) Winner
Beyond the State: New Zealand state houses from modest to modern Bill McKay, Andrea Stevens & Simon Devitts (Penguin Books)
The beginner’s guide to hunting and fishing in New Zealand Paul Adamson (Random House NZ)
The Luminaries Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press)

New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Awards

NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction: Tough Amy Head (Victoria University Press)

NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry: Horse with hat Marty Smith (Victoria University Press)

NZSA E. H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction: Tragedy at Pike River Mine Rebecca Macfie (Awa Press)

2013

New Zealand Post Book of the Year and Fiction winner

The big music Kirsty Gunn (Faber & Faber)

Māori Language Award

Dame Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira for Ngā Waituhi o Rēhua (Huia Publishers)

People’s Choice Award

Patched: the history of gangs in New Zealand Jarrod Gilbert (Auckland University Press) Winner
Annabel Langbein the Free Range Cook: simple pleasures Annabel Langbein (Annabel Langbein)
Treats from Little and Friday Kim Evans (Penguin NZ)

Fiction

The big music Kirsty Gunn (Faber & Faber) Winner
In the absence of heroes Anthony McCarten (Random House)
The Forrests Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury)
The intentions book Gigi Fenster (Victoria University Press)

Poetry

The darling North Anne Kennedy (Auckland University Press) Winner
A man runs into a woman Sarah Jane Barnett (Hue & Cry Press)
Snow White’s coffin Kate Camp (Victoria University Press)
The lifeguard: poems 2008-2013 Ian Wedde (Auckland University Press)

Illustrated Non-Fiction

Pat Hanly Gregory O’Brien & Gil Hanly (Ron Sang Publications) Winner
His own steam: the work of Barry Brickell David Craig and Gregory O’Brien, with new photographs by Haruhiko Sameshima (Auckland University Press)
Selling the dream: the art of early New Zealand tourism Peter Alsop, Gary Stewart & Dave Bamford (Craig Potton Publishing)
Stag Spooner: wild man from the bush Chris Maclean (Craig Potton Publishing)

Nielsen Booksellers Choice

Shelter from the Storm: The story of New Zealand’s backcountry huts Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint (Craig Potton Publishing)

General Non-Fiction

Civilisation: twenty places on the edge of the world Steve Braunias (Awa Press) Winner
Patched: the history of gangs in New Zealand Jarrod Gilbert (Auckland University Press)
The meeting place: Māori and Pākehā encounters, 1642-1840 Vincent O’Malley (Auckland University Press)
The search for Anne Perry Joanne Drayton (HarperCollins)

New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Awards

NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction: I got his blood on me Lawrence Patchett (Victoria University Press)

NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry: Graft Helen Heath (Victoria University Press)

NZSA E. H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction: Moa: the life and death of New Zealand’s legendary bird Quinn Berentson (Craig Potton Publishing)

2012