Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction Award
General Non Fiction Award
Mūrau o te Tuhu – Māori Language Award
Mātāmua ko te Kupu! Ta Timoti Kāretu (Kotahi Rau Pukapuka, Auckland University Press)
MitoQ Best First Book Awards
The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Hiakai: Modern Māori Cuisine by Monique Fiso (Godwit, Penguin Random House)
The Jessie Mackay Award for Poetry
I am a Human Being Jackson Nieuwland (Compound Press)
The Hubert Church Award for Fiction
Victory Park Rachel Kerr (Mākaro Press)
The E H McCormick Award for General Non-Fiction
Specimen: Personal Essays by Madison Hamill (Victoria University Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Illustrated Non-Fiction Award
General Non Fiction Award
MitoQ Best First Book Awards
The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa Chris McDowall and Tim Denee (Massey University Press)
The Jessie Mackay Award for Poetry
Craven Jane Arthur (Victoria University Press)
The Hubert Church Award for Fiction
Auē Becky Manawatu (Mākaro Press)
The E H McCormick Award for General Non-Fiction
Dead People I Have Known Shayne Carter (Victoria University Press)
Vincent O’Sullivan (Victoria University Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Illustrated Non-Fiction Award
Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non Fiction
Te Mūrau o te Tuhi – Māori Language Award
He Kupu Tuku Iho: Ko te Reo Māori te Tatau ki te Ao Timoti Kāretu and Wharehuia Milroy (Auckland University Press)
MitoQ Best First Book Awards
The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Whatever it Takes: Pacific Films and John O’Shea 1948-2000 John Reid (Victoria University Press)
The Jessie Mackay Award for Poetry
Poūkahangatus Tayi Tibble (Victoria University Press)
The Hubert Church Award for Fiction
The Sound of Breaking Glass Kirsten Warner (Mākaro Press)
The E H McCormick Award for General Non-Fiction
We Can Make a Life Chessie Henry (Victoria University Press)
The New Animals Pip Adam (Victoria University Press) Winner
Salt Picnic Patrick Evans (Victoria University Press)
Sodden Downstream Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson)
Baby Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press)
Poetry Award
Night Horse Elizabeth Smither (Auckland University Press) Winner
Anchor Stone Tony Beyer (Cold Hub Press)
Rāwāhi Briar Wood (Anahera Press)
The Yield Sue Wootton (Otago University Press)
Illustrated Non-Fiction Award
Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins (Bridget Williams Books) Winner
Tōtara: A Natural and Cultural History Philip Simpson (Auckland University Press)
Gordon Walters: New Vision Zara Stanhope (commissioning editor), Lucy Hammonds, Laurence Simmons, Julia Waite (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki and Dunedin Public Art Gallery)
The Face of Nature: An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula Jonathan West (Otago University Press)
Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non Fiction
Best first books
The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Caves: Exploring New Zealand’s Subterranean Wilderness Marcus Thomas and Neil Silverwood (Whio Publishing)
The Jessie Mackay Award for Poetry
Fully Clothed and So Forgetful Hannah Mettner (Victoria University Press)
The Hubert Church Award for Fiction
Baby Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press)
The E H McCormick Award for General Non-Fiction
Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize
Illustrated Non-fiction
Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction
Best first books
The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
A Whakapapa of Tradition: 100 Years of Ngāti Porou Carving 1830-1930 Ngarino Ellis (Auckland University Press)
The Jessie Mackay Award for Poetry
Hera Lindsay Bird Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press)
The Hubert Church Award for Fiction
Black Ice Matter Gina Cole (Huia Publishers)
The E H McCormick Award for General Non-Fiction
My Father’s Island Adam Dudding (Victoria University Press)
The winners (including the four Best First Book Awards) were announced at a ceremony on Tuesday 10 May 2016, at the opening night event of the Auckland Writers Festival. The awards covered books published between 1 June 2014 and 21 December 2015. The overall winner received $50,000. Winners of the three category awards each received $10,000; the Māori Language Award $10,000; and each of the winners of the four Best First Book Awards, $2,500.
Fiction
Illustrated Non Fiction
General Non Fiction
Poetry
The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Te Ara Puoro: A Journey into the World of Māori Music Richard Nunns (Potton and Burton)
The Jessie Mackay Award for Poetry
How to Be Dead in a Year of Snakes Chris Tse (Auckland University Press)
The Hubert Church Award for Fiction
The Invisible Mile David Coventry (Victoria University Press)
The E H McCormick Award for General Non-Fiction
Panguru and the City: Kāinga Tahi, Kāinga Rua Melissa Matutina Williams (Bridget Williams Books)
History of the New Zealand Book Awards
Before 1996, there were two major New Zealand literary prizes. They merged in 1996 to form the Montana New Zealand Book awards.
The New Zealand Book Awards ran from 1976-1995.
The other major award from 1968-1993 was the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards (formerly the Wattie Book Awards).
Montana took over sponsorship in 1994 and the awards became the Montana Book Awards (1994-1995).
In 1996, the Montana Book Awards merged with the New Zealand Book Awards to become the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. The Montana New Zealand Book Awards ran from 1996-2009.
From 2010-2014 the Awards were sponsored by New Zealand Post. In 2015 Ockham assumed sponsorship of the Awards but no prizes were awarded that year.