The Ceremony for the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards was held last night.

How many did you pick?

I was on the button with a few but missed more than I got right.

I do not envy the judges when they have such good quality to choose from.

It may be a hard market for publishers out there but it is obviously not the lack of talent and content which is causing the problem.

The winners:

New Zealand Post Book of the Year and Fiction winner

The Big Music by Kirsty Gunn, published by Faber & Faber.

Poetry

The Darling North by Anne Kennedy, published by Auckland University Press.

Illustrated Non-fiction

Pat Hanly by Gregory O'Brien and Gil Hanly, published by Ron Sang Publications.

General Non-fiction

Civilisation: Twenty Places on the Edge of the World by Steve Braunias, published by Awa Press.

Nielsen Booksellers' Choice

Shelter from the Storm: The Story of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts, by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint,

  published by Craig Potton Publishing.

People's Choice

Patched: The History of Gangs in New Zealand, by Jarrod Gilbert, published by Auckland University Press.

Maori Language Award Winner

Nga Waituhi O Rehua by Katarina Te Heikoko Mataira, published by Huia Publishing.

Those previously announced:

NZSA Best First Book Poetry

Graft by Helen Heath, published by Victoria University Press.
NZSA Best First Book Fiction

I Got His Blood On Me by Lawrence Patchett, published by Victoria University Press.
NZSA Best First Book Non-fiction

Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand's Legendary Bird by Quinn Berentson, published by Craig Potton Publishing.