New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

The awards began in 1982, as the New Zealand Government Publishing Awards, with two categories, Children's Book of the Year and Picture Book of the Year. A non-fiction award was presented in 1986, but not in 1987 or 1988, the final years of this incarnation of the awards. No awards were presented in 1989. In 1990, Unilever New Zealand (then the New Zealand manufacturer of Aim toothpaste) restarted the awards as the '''AIM Children's Book Awards'''. There were two categories at that time, Fiction and Picture Book. Second and third prizes were originally awarded, though these were replaced with honour awards in 1993, presented at the judges' discretion. In 1997, the awards became the '''New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards''', and another new category was added, the New Zealand Post Children's Choice award. In 2015 the title of the awards changed to the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. At this time the awards were administered by Booksellers New Zealand, an industry organisation, and were presented at the end of a 10-day festival organised by the New Zealand Book Council each May. In 2016, the awards merged with the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) Awards, and became administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust. As a consequence of the merge, the Junior Fiction category prize was combined with the LIANZA Esther Glen Award for junior fiction and the Non-Fiction award was combined with the LIANZA Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction]. In addition, two new categories were introduced via the LIANZA Russell Clark Award for Illustration and the LIANZA Te Kura Pounamu Award for works written in te reo Māori (the Māori language). ==Prizes==

, the winners of the category awards are awarded , with the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year winner receiving an additional $7,500. The Picture Book prize money is split evenly between the author and the illustrator of the book. Winners of the Best First Book and New Zealand Post Children's Choice awards receive $2,000 each, and any finalists presented an Honour Award receive $500 each. ==Awards==

Children's Book of the Year Now called the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, this award is presented to a book "which, in the opinion of the judges, achieves outstanding excellence in all general judging criteria". When the New Zealand Government Publishing Awards finished in 1988, the award ceased to exist until 1995, when the '''AIM Children's Book Awards established the AIM Book of the Year'''. Children's Choice In 2015 for the first time, children chose the finalist list for the Children's Choice awards. With 6,000 students putting their votes in for all 149 of the titles submitted for the awards, the finalists were announced on 9 June. This began the second stage of voting, which saw just under 16,000 students post their votes for the Children's Choice winners. Until 2014, the Children's Choice award was chosen from the finalists in all categories below by a public vote open to school aged children, and is considered one of the highest accolades in the awards. winners of the Children's Choice award receive a prize of $2,000. Despite being open to finalists from all categories, all winners have been from the Picture Book category. From 2010 the winners of each category have also been announced. ==Categories==

Picture Book The Picture Book category is for titles in which the illustrations "carry the impact of the story" along with the text. Fiction The Fiction category is for works of creative writing, in which the text constitutes the "heart of the book". Te reo Māori This award is currently called the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award and is awarded to a book written entirely in (or translated entirely into) te reo Māori (the Māori language). It was introduced in 2016 when the Awards merged with the LIANZA Awards, and is judged separately by Te Rōpū Whakahau. ==Honour Award and runners-up==

Honour Awards are given at the judge's discretion to outstanding finalists that don't win in their category. , finalists presented an Honour Award receive a prize of $500. Honour Awards were first presented in 1993, while in 1990 to 1992 runners-up were awarded second and third prizes. ==See also==