Left to right: Ngarino Ellis and Deidre Brown, co-authors of Toi Te Mana, with Edward Behrens, Editor of Apollo

Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art, by art historians Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou), together with the late Jonathan Mane Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī), has been named the winner of Best Book at the 2025 Apollo Awards.

The win was announced at a ceremony at London's Old Session House last night, Thursday 20 November, where Deidre and Ngarino were present to accept the award. 

"We are delighted to receive this award," say the authors. "Toi Te Mana was a labour of love produced through 12 years of dedicated research and writing and representing a century of our combined experience as art and architectural historians. A key objective of Toi Te Mana was to situate Māori art as one of the world’s great art traditions, which is confirmed with this award by our international peers."

Toi Te Mana beat out five other books shortlisted to take the top prize. It was the only nominee with a subject from beyond the Western canon and is the first winner in the Award's history focussed entirely on Indigenous art. 

We are so proud to have helped bring this book and the formidable scholarship of Deidre, Ngarino and Jonathan to fruition and now to the world stage. To read more about the shortlisted books and the judges' notes, head to the Apollo magazine website. And get yourself a copy of this incredible taonga!