Former New Zealand Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh’s first book for children has been judged the supreme winner at the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Mophead was awarded the highest prize in children’s publishing – The Margaret Mahy Book of the Year – during a virtual presentation this evening to celebrate this year’s awards.
The judges said Mophead is “clever, joyful and inspiring, with not a smidgen of pretension or condescension”. They went as far as calling the book “perfect” – describing it as a taonga that should be placed in the hands of every child in Aotearoa, especially young Pasifika children who might not yet know their own creative power.
“We love this book’s design and production. We love that it’s part picture book, part graphic novel, part memoir, part poem – its form is exactly what it wants and needs to be, which is the message of the book too,” says convenor of judges Jane Arthur.
Mophead recounts Marsh’s journey from self-conscious child unsure of her place in the world to being New Zealand’s Poet Laureate rubbing shoulders with world leaders and literary luminaries, and delivers a powerful message that your difference is what makes a difference.
Seven other significant awards were also announced during the presentation, held online due to lingering concerns about COVID-19 at the time of planning. The virtual format meant a bigger audience than usual heard from all the night’s winners and judges, as well as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, other dignitaries, and some avid young readers.
As well as taking out the supreme prize, Mophead was also awarded the Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction. The judges faced an abundance of strong contenders in this category and said there has never been a more exciting time to be a young reader on the hunt for facts or true stories.
Inspiring a love of reading in Kiwi children is a big part of the Awards’ remit and many of this year’s finalists had the opportunity to present their work to thousands of children around the country in a programme of Books Alive online events and virtual story times, co-ordinated through public and school libraries by LIANZA, the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa.
The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a unique celebration of the contribution that New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators make to building national identity and cultural heritage. The awards are made possible through the generosity, commitment and vision of funders and sponsors: Creative New Zealand, HELL Pizza, the Wright Family Foundation, LIANZA, Wellington City Council and Nielsen Book. The Awards are administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust.
The full list of winners for the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults:
Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award
Mophead, Selina Tusitala Marsh (Auckland University Press)
Picture Book Award
Abigail and the Birth of the Sun, Matthew Cunningham, illustrated by Sarah Wilkins (Puffin, Penguin Random House)
Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction
Lizard's Tale, Weng Wai Chan (Text Publishing)
Young Adult Fiction Award
Aspiring, Damien Wilkins (Annual Ink / Massey University Press)
Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction
Mophead, Selina Tusitala Marsh (Auckland University Press)
Russell Clark Award for Illustration
The Adventures of Tupaia, illustrated by Mat Tait, written by Courtney Sina Meredith (Allen & Unwin with Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum)
Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for te reo Māori
Tio Tiamu, Kurahau, illustrated by Laya Mutton-Rogers (Huia Publishers)
Best First Book Award
#Tumeke!, Michael Petherick (Annual Ink / Massey University Press)