Sight Lines: Women in Art in Aotearoa, by Kirsty Baker and designed by Katie Kerr, has won the Gerard Reid Award for Best Book and the Penguin Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book at the 2025 PANZ Book Design Awards. 

Last Thursday 18 September, the Publishers Association of New Zealand hosted the country's top designers at the annual Book Design Awards, with AUP book Sight Lines taking out the top prize.  

"This is a show-stopping celebration of Aotearoa’s women and their art. Open the book and the wide margins offer space for the reader to slow down and reflect on the art within, the distinctive and unusual pairing of neon red and olive green is a bold choice, which paired with the design of the cover, has an air of both assertiveness and intrigue. This taonga should be perched atop every household’s bookshelf," say judges Chloe Blades, Eva Charlton and Dr Jo Bailey. 

"With Sight Lines we tried to find a sweet spot between an elegant art book and a practical textbook that's easy to hold, read and reference . . ." Katie says to the Sunday Star Times. "As the first major publication on women and art in Aotearoa since the late 1980s, it was important that the book felt like a celebration."

We are so proud to have published a book as good-looking as it is insightful and timely.    

Congratulations to Katie and to all the winning and shortlisted designers. To read more about the winners and the judges' notes, head to the PANZ Book Design Awards website. And to read more about Katie and Kirsty's collaboration, look out for their interview in the Sunday Star Times, available via PressReader.