Winners of the 2022 NZ Children's & Young Adults Book Award were announced 10 August.

Picture Book Award

 Lion Guards the cake by Ruth Paul
Lion is full of pride when it comes to guarding his home and when the birthday cake has been made for the next day's celebrations, he goes where he is needed most ... to guard the cake. But in the morning, the household awakes to a chaotic scene. What happened when Lion was guarding the cake?
 

  

  

NZSA Best First Book Award

 Spark Hunter by Sonya Wilson
Over a million hectares of wild bush-clad land and one young hunter ... Nissa Marshall knows that something is hiding deep in the forests of Fiordland National Park - she's seen their lights in the trees. But what are they, and why does no one else seem to notice them? When Nissa abandons her school camp to track down the mysterious lights, she finds herself lost in a dangerous wonderland. But she's not the only one in danger - the bush and the creatures are under threat too - and she wants to help. What can a school kid do where adults have failed, and can she find her way back? In Fiordland, the lost usually stay lost. Spark Hunter is an epic Kiwi adventure-fantasy - a story of survival in one of the world's last great wildernesses.

 

 

Wright Family Foundation Rsther Glen Award for Junior Fiction

 The Memory Thief by Leonie Agnew
Seth has been trapped behind the iron bars of the public gardens for as long as he can remember. By day he's frozen as a statue of a shepherd boy, but as soon as the sun sets he roams the park, ravenously hungry. He is a troll, and the food he seeks is human memories. Then he meets Stella. There's something so different about her - Seth doesn't want her memories. He simply wants to talk to her. But there's someone else in the garden who sees Stella as a threat...and a meal ... What is Stella trying to forget? What are the memories that Seth is piecing together? And will he ever escape the lonely garden and start truly living? 

 

 

 

Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction & Russell Clark Award for Illustration

 Atua: Māori gods and heroes by Gavin Bishop
Before the beginning there was nothing. No sound, no air, no colour: nothing. TE KORE, NOTHING. No one knows how long this nothing lasted because there was no time. However, in this great nothing there was a sense of waiting. Something was about to happen. Meet the gods, demigods and heroes of the Māori world, and explore Aotearoa's exciting legends from the Creation to the Migration.

   

Wright Family Foundation te Kura Pounamu Award for Te Reo Māori

 I waho, i te moana by Yvonne Morrison and translated by Pānia Papa
Out in the moana, underneath the sparkling sun, lived a mother sea lion and her little pup one ... A playful retelling of the much-loved traditional story, Over in the Meadow. This companion title to Morrison’s Down in the Forest features fascinating and lovable creatures from the seas that surround these islands of ours.
[In Māori]

 

  

Young Adult Fiction Award

Learning to Love Blue by Saradha Koirala - coming soon

Learning to Love Blue is a celebration of finding independence in a new city. As Paige moves from Wellington and the comfort of friends and family to Melbourne, she must navigate new friendships and romantic relationships, all the while navigating her complicated feelings about her absent Mum. Saradha Koirala conveys all the mixed emotion of this setting in a way that is realistic, compassionate, and firmly placed in the journey into adulthood. Relatable at every turn, Learning to Love Blue draws you into Paige’s journey through Melbourne’s streets, bands, record and coffee shops, and has you rooting for her to the very end.

 

 

  

Explore NZBookAwards.co.nz for more information on all finalists and the full long and short lists for 2022.  

We also have a page of Books Alive videos, celebrating the shortlisted titles with our community.

Find more great reading recommendations on our Books and Reading page!