August 14, 2023
Use of te reo in children’s book a winner
For the first time a bilingual book has taken out the top prize at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.
Mat Tait from Ngāti Apa ki te rātō won the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award for Te Wehenga: The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku.
The convenor of judges, Nicola Daly, praised the way the book integrates both languages into the illustrations themselves.
She says it feels like a metaphorical representation of the increasing bilingualism in Aotearoa.
Motueka-based Tait also collected the Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction for the book.
The Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for Te Reo Māori went to Kua Whetūrangitia a Koro by Brianne Te Paa, illustrated by Story Hemi-Morehouse – a tale of young boy who learns about the customs around celebrating Matariki from his grandfather.